High School Never Ends
by Tend to Infinity
Summary: Life can be tough, especially for teens in high school. The gang get together, and go through all the hardships that childhood yields.
1. Chapter 1: Open the Gates

High School Never Ends

By: Tend to Infinity

You may have noticed the diversity of my writing if you read my profile (go ahead, click on it, there's a link right there. No, not here you moron, above this text. ^^) This is a long story of Rugrats, all grown up, taking place at High School. I hope you enjoy it, as I enjoyed writing it.

Warning: Teen.

Rated teen for suggested sexual situations, some language and mild violence. However, when this occurs I will warn at the start of the chapter.

This story contains fluff. KxP, TxL and possibly AC but unlikely and the possibility of a few characters: Edward, Fillmore and Ingrid, crossing over. However, not likely.

I do not own Rugrats: All grown up, but the plot is mine.

Chapter 1: Open the Gates.

[I]

[T]

Tommy and Chucky walked into the bustling high school, Chucky instantly affected by a de-ja-vu like feeling of claustrophobia. Chucky was the grade above Tommy, and Tommy was now a freshman, gazing around in awe at the sheer magnitude of the building around him.

Tommy smiled, he had been somewhat looking forward to and dreading the new school experience that he was about to begin. Lessons hadn't begun yet, but so far so good. "So, how is it, Tommy?" Chucky asked, wheezing ever so slightly.

"Good so far, Chuck," he replied. He pulled a small, crumpled note out of his pocket and read it. "Locker 241a." he laughed to himself. "How am I supposed to know where that is?"

Chucky laughed. "No idea, but I do," he bit his bottom lip, thinking. He then nodded. "I remember, it's next to the boys toilets, at the 'A' section."

"Thanks," he said, following Chucky. Middle school was nothing like High school. Middle school was where kids were only slightly divided, though here it was dramatic and he couldn't help but notice. There were Goths, Cheerleaders, Nerds, Computer Programmers, Jocks and loads more.

Chucky breathed into his inhaler. Chucky was a nerd, a smart nerd, not one of those dumb nerd dorks. He was an almost straight 'A' student, a chess player (the assisting captain of the chess team) and a computer nerd. Tommy was indefinable, he did what he enjoyed. Though most people, namely Angelica and anyone she infected with her words, described Tommy as a loser in middle school.

"Here we are," Chucky announced when they reached the boys bathroom. "I'm sorry, Tommy, but I have to go. The chess club is having a quick meeting."

Tommy laughed. "Knock yourself out, see you later Chucky."

"Bye, Tommy." He said and briskly tried to force his way through the crowd. When he failed he pushed himself up against the locker and walked along it, hoping no one was checking their lockers.

Just as Tommy began to look for his locker, the bathroom doors burst open and a familiar face walked out. "Tommy!" he said. It was Phillip Deville, a strange, charismatic boy who had been one of Tommy's best friends ever since they were babies, literally. "How's it going, amigo. I haven't seen you since forever!"

"Phil, I saw you yesterday," Tommy laughed, hi fiving him. "We played the hoops at yours."

"Oh yeah," he said, putting his fingers on his chin and pretending to think. "I crushed you, right?"

"No," Tommy corrected. "I beat you so badly the neighbourhood started to write songs about you!"

Phil winked. "Must be something up with my brain," he joked. "Mums right then!"

Tommy laughed and headed for his locker, checking the paper again for his combination and rolling it in. "High school sucks," Phil remarked, leaning against the nearby locker, waiting for Tommy to finish.

"You've only been here for a few minutes," Tommy explained, checking through the empty books for his letters. "How can you hate it already?"

"Durr, it's school," Phil replied. "How can you not hate it?"

Tommy chuckled, took a few of the empty books and shut his locker. "Where's Chucky?" Phil asked, looking through the crowd, which was starting to disperse as the students headed for their homerooms. "I thought he'd be with you."

"He thought he would secure his place on the cool table straight away," Tommy replied and then laughed when he saw Phil frown. "He is at a chess club meeting."

Phil chuckled. "Yo, buddies," they heard a high, pretty female voice call. They smiled when they saw Kimi, their Japanese friend. She never usually said yo, so she was probably mocking Phil.

"Sup ma bitch," Phil joked and low fived her. "How are you finding high school?"

"Not so hot," she replied. "Have you heard the news about your sister?"

Phil shook his head, Kimi turned to Tommy and he did the same. "She has been hanging out with Angelica, and with all the jocks."

"No way," Tommy said. "not Lil, she isn't like that."

Phil frowned. "I don't know, Tommy," Phil said, thinking about the events of the holiday. "Lil went out a lot over the summer, especially with Angelica, maybe she has got with that click."

Tommy hadn't seen Lil in a few weeks, as she was out when Phil and he were playing basketball. He hadn't asked where, and this would explain. "Don't worry about it, guys," he explained. "She will sit with us at lunch, no doubt about it. She is probably just getting a bigger social group."

Kimi smiled, glad to be back with the group. It had been two weeks since Tommy, Phil and Kimi has been together, since she had been to visit the family in Japan, leaving Chucky and his dad at home, ill. Everything was back to normal now, her rampant feelings for Tommy had finally subsided, leaving her completely void of the awkward "hellos" that happened in middle school.

"Who's your homeroom teacher?" Tommy asked the two of them, reading his off the paper. "Mine's Mr. Weinstein."

"Mine's Mr. Jackson," Phil said. "Great, we have Albert Weinstein and Michael Jackson teaching us, who have you got Kimi, Mr. Lesley."

Kimi giggled and pulled a perfectly folded note out of her pocket. "Mr. Daniels," she said and sighed. "how boring."

"How long do you bet it will be until Phil gets kicked out for making a joke about Mr. Jackson's name, Kimi?" Tommy asked, nudging Kimi in the side.

"Five minutes, tops," she replied, winking at Phil, who had pretended he had been shot in the chest and was clutching his heart.

"That hurts, guys," he said. "Anyway, I've got to dash, it's home room time."

"See you Phil," Tommy and Kimmi waved. "I'll walk with you," Kimi said, "our homerooms are on the same corridor."

"Ok, Kimi," Tommy said.

[II]

[T]

Tommy pushed open the door to him home base and saw the class listening to their Mp3 players. There was no teacher yet so none of them were worried. Like the school, the room was divided and one could tell the factions merely by observing. The class was divided into rows and he sat at the end of one.

Unfortunately for Tommy, he couldn't see anyone he knew from middle school, except one: Tom, a nerdy kid with an arrogant and vicious attitude. He was a mathematical prodigy who studied Physics, and he clearly did not think that high school was worth him, as he was sitting on his own with his legs propped up on the table. Tommy wasn't going to sit by him, he wasn't in the mood.

Tommy took a seat at the edge of the room, happy to be ignored as he only really cared for his life-long friends. That reminded him, he couldn't believe that Lil was suddenly involved with the Jocks and cheerleaders, like Angelica. Lil and him were close, as close as he was with Chucky sometimes.

Tommy's phone buzzed in his pocket and he checked for teachers before reading it.

_Phil: Sup Tommy, Mr. Jackson's hilarious! Im mockin him all the time!_

_Tommy: lol. He figured it out yet?_

_Phil: Naa. _

Tommy chuckled and waited for the next lesson, spending his time in homeroom staring at the clock.

[C]

The chess room was crowded today with ten members, all incredibly gifted at the game. Chucky and the rest had been given permission for a few games during the time in homeroom. "Checkmate," Chucky said, pushing his queen in front of the king.

"Damn it," his opponent said, a squatty maths nerd.

"Homeroom now, guys," Chucky said. "Don't what Mr. Moxley breathing down my neck constantly." Chucky stood, packing his board and his pieces into his pocket as he went.

Chucky was a model student in a way, but he hated his time at school. Everyone thought he was a dork, and he was, but that didn't make it better. He loved chess, but he hated being mocked. In spite of this, he was to stubborn to do what they say (this was a new personality change). He was still a coward, but a chess loving coward.

"You've got to go for county, Chuck," a fellow chess player said, after watching him beat the other kid. "I see you have been practicing over the summer and have come back amazing!"

"No way," Chucky said. "They'll kill me, but thanks anyway."

Chucky pushed opened the door and walked out. Funnily enough, to the chess club he was a cool kid.

[K]

I am sick of this already! Kimi thought, resting her head on the table in English class. She wasn't even going to pretend to listen, and cram at the last minute. It had worked before, and it would work again. Her brother scolded her for this, but she always laughed and winked at him. She loved her brother, but he was such a buzzkill sometimes.

Kimi felt something light hit her in the back off the head and a laugh. She turned and picked it up. When she looked behind her, she saw that it was Phil, flicking paper around the room at the back of people's heads. "Get lost, Phil!" a girl called from a side of the room. The teacher was not here yet.

Kim turned and saw Phil, he gestured over. "Come over here Kimi," he called. He patted the seat next to him and she smiled. Kimi sat next to him, he had his feet up on the table.

"Yo, yo!" he said.

"Phil, do you have to have your feet up on the table?" she moaned, though she was faking.

"Yep," he said. "Or they lock up!"

Kimi pulled a notebook out of her pocket, and started scribbling a stick figure. She had decided to learn how to draw, a funny thing to decide, but she wanted a new hobby. "Where's the teacher?" she said, leaning on the desk again when another picture went wrong.

Phil laughed. "What do you think of my flick book," he said, passing her his new notebook, which he had drawn on the corners.

Kimi flicked the book down, and it showed a man falling down the stairs and exploding. She giggled, it was actually quite good. "It's great," she told him.

"You're a gonna, apparently," Phil joked, when Kimi tried to fall asleep on the table. "Chucky told me our teacher, I think her name was Mr. Denphy, is a real stick in the mud."

The day went by slowly and all lessons seemed to tend to infinity. It seemed even the nerdiest of nerds, Chucky included, were not enjoying high school. It wasn't that the lessons were hard, at least not for Lil and Chucky, but the teachers were boring and the lessons long. By lunch time, the whole group were contemplating suicide.

[All]

"I hate this," Tommy said, he was with Chucky at the lunch room, getting lunch in the queue. "It seems to go on and on and on and on."

"I'll agree with that," Chucky said.

Phil cut through the line, cutting underneath the rope which separated him from it. "Phil, you can't cut!" Chucky protested.

"Sure I can," he laughed. He grabbed a tray from the table beside him and joined them. "How's the food?"

"It's better than middle school," Chucky replied. "But I question whether or not any of the ingredients are real."

"Hey, if it fills me, who cares," Phil said, as they approached the canteen desk. "So," he said to the ugly, old lunch maid at the counter. "What would you recommend?"

"The fish, now move along," she replied, irate at Phil's attitude already.

"Your hearts not in this, is it?" Phil mocked as she slapped the fish down onto his plate. "God's sake," he muttered as he headed to the table.

Chucky and Tommy got there food and quickly followed Phil, taking an empty table in the corner of the room. "Hey guys," another familiar voice sounded. It was Lil, and she was with Kimi.

Lil was… different. She had grown, a lot. Her hair was long and curly, around shoulder length. She was wearing tight blue jeans and a yellow top. Tommy bit his lip, she was beautiful, on a whole other scale than before. "Hi Lil," he said, "long time no see!"

Lil smiled. Kimi and Lil were carrying there food so they must have been waiting for Tommy, Chucky and Phil. Kimi sat down, opposite Phil and Tommy, who were sitting next to her. Chucky moved over for her and Lil sat on the edge of the table. "Hi Tommy and Chucky," she said. "How was summer?"

"It was good," Tommy said.

"Yeah," Chucky told her.

"Guys, I'm sorry I didn't meet up with you," Lillian apologised.

Just before Lil could continue her story, Angelica and a few of her cheerleader friends arrived at the table. Angelica was a powerful person, who was obsessed with people loving and respecting her. This personality had quickly made her the most popular kid in school, the captain of the cheerleading team. Lil, who had grown into the friendship, found out that she was pretty, so she clung to Angelica, and was quickly becoming important in the school status quo.

The gang had known Angelic enough to know that when she was there, it did not spell good news for them. "Hi Lil," she said and her friends followed. "So, you wanna leave these losers and come sit with us?"

"Umm…" Lil said, frowning. She looked over to everyone and bit her bottom lip, not knowing who to choose.

Tommy, realising this, spoke up. "It's alright Lil," he said. "We can catch up later, go and speak to your friends."

Lil smiled at him and his legs went numb. "Thanks Tommy," she said. "See you later, guys."

Tommy watched Lil's ass bounce as she walked off. No, he thought, no thoughts like that, she is my one of my best friends, it would ruin everything. Tommy shook his head quickly.

"What's happened to my sister?" Phil muttered under his breath. Kimi and Phil were having their own conversation whilst this was going on, so he did not notice Tommy's eyes toward his sister. "You wanna meet up tonight?" Kimi asked Phil, "shoot some hoops, and stuff."

"Yeah, sure," Phil said, shovelling the food into his mouth without tasting it. Chucky was wrong, the food here was worse. "Man, this food sucks."

Kimi laughed. "Agreed," she said after trying the pizza on her plate, which was stale and hard. "It's awful."

Kimi had been given a new phone, for the start of school, and she loved it. She wasn't allowed a phone for so long that having one was a big deal. "Oh, I forgot," she said, pulling it out of her pocket.

"Nice phone," Phil commented, nodding his head.

Kimi smiled. "Thanks. Can you add your number to it, I only got it yesterday."

"I'm not worthy," he said, as he took it from her. Kimi really was awesome, not like other girls. She was cool, funny and not to mention cute. Phil, like Tommy before (only he didn't know), suppressed any thoughts of relationship./ He couldn't risk it, Kimi was his best friend, and since Susie had moved to a private school and Lil had become obsessed with the Jocks, they had been closer than ever. "There you go," he said, handing it back to her.

"Thanks, Phil," she replied, winking. "Now I have something to put on the websites."

"What websites," he asked.

"Gay and single," she joked, bursting into laughter.

"Bitch," he winked. "Come over to mine then, around five?"

Kimi nodded and got back to eating her nasty excuse for a lunch.

End of Chapter 1

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	2. Chapter 2: Only Young

Chapter 2: We're Only Young

Authors note: Hopefully you got the [T] and [C] sections which were dotted around the chapter before. This means the chapter which the character is centred around.

[T]=Tommy

[C]=Chucky

[K]=Kimi

[A]=Angelica

[D]=Dil

[P]=Phil

[L]=Lil

I hope that sorts things out. The [I] section denotes the section. [I] means section 1 and [II] means section 2 and so on.

[I]

[T]

Tommy was sitting in Chucky's car, leaning on the window and waiting for him. Chucky had forgotton his portable chess set, again, and was searching frantically for it at club. Tommy was too busy thinking about Lil, who was haunting his mind. "Tommy," Kimi called. "Is my brother driving you?"

Kimi was with Phil, again. Tommy was beginning to notice the two of them, but thought no more of it. They were just friends. "Yeah," Tommy called.

Kimi nodded. She was dressed like she usually was, a brown jacket, blue top and black skirt with blue jeans underneath. "Chucky'l drive us," she told Phil and he laughed, opening the door for Kimi, "gentlemen," she remarked.

She laughed when Phil grunted and pushed her up to the other seat. "Where is Chucky," Phil asked.

"Did he forget his chess set again?" Kimi asked, smiling at the thought of her nerdy, smart brother being so forgetful.

Tommy nodded. Chucky's car was old, very old. Chucky, however, loved it as if it were his child, and cleaned it constantly. "Don't Phil," Tommy warned as Phil made for a packet of crisps.

"Oh, come on!" Phil said. "I'm hungry, the buzzkill won't be that annoyed."

"He will," Kimi joked. "Your eating to much anyway, fatty."

"I'm offended," Phil replied. He looked over to Tommy and tapped in on the shoulder. "Do you have any idea how to drive, because he's taking ages and I'd rather have a ticket."

"Chucky would freak!" Kimi said.

Tommy turned to Phil. "Where's Lil, Phil?" he asked. "Doesn't she need a ride, or is she taking the bus."

"Neither dude," Phil replied. "You'll never guess whose car she's taking," he muttered sarcastically.

"Angelicas," Tommy said under his breath. Secretly, he was a little annoyed that Lil had gone over to what Chucky would describe as the "dark side".

"Hole in one," Phil said. "She isn't coming back till 8," he explained. "She told me to tell mom that anyway, so she'll probably be back at 9."

Chucky scrambled to the car. "Found it, Tommy," he said and opened the door. He flinched when he noticed Kimi and Phil, as they had made him jump. "Hi guys."

"We're having a ride," Kimi told him, smiling at Phil.

"Fine," Chucky said, defeated, and turned the key in the ignition. The car made a small bang as it started and they drove up, the car taking well over a minute to reach thirty kilometres an hour.

[K]

Kimi was staring out of the window as the world flew past her. She was happy, more happy than she had been in a long time. She was happy because of one person, who she could never be with, being right next to her.

Of course, he didn't notice her. He was listening to his music player with his eyes shut, occasionally kicking Chucky's chair gently, causing Chucky to moan at it for around ten minutes, and he turned his player up.

For some reason, Kimi could not stop smiling when she was around him. She had imagined various stories of her and Phil over the day, and could not convince herself that she didn't like him. She had liked Tommy for a long while, ever since middle school, but they had just grown apart over the years and she had moved on. She had waited enough.

"Chucky, turn the music off," she ordered. She wasn't mean to her brother, and they were close friends as well as siblings, but the music he listened to drove her crazy. 80's rock, I mean who listens to that now? She thought.

"But I like this song," he protested.

"Please," she said, doing puppy dog eyes, causing Chucky to mumble something and turn it off in the end.

Phil pulled his headphones out like he had just had a thought. "How's Dil, Tommy?" he asked. Dil was Tommy's younger brother and not old enough for high school. "Does he want to come to high school to?"

Tommy turned. "Suprisingly, no," he told him. "Bro says he wants to hold onto his innocence." Phil laughed when he heard this, Dil was far from innocent, crazy was a better word.

Kimi fiddled around in her bag, which was a boys bag (most people described her as a tomboy), for her wallet. She pulled it out and looked through for notes. She found ten dollar bills and smiled, putting the wallet back. She really needed a can of soda.

"You joined the basketball team yet, Phil?" Chucky asked, keeping his eyes constantly on the road.

"Nope," he replied. "I've got to tomorrow, though I bet they are all about six foot eight, I'm going to look like an idiot."

"Midget," Kimi said, whilst coughing.

"Listen lady," Phil said, turning to her. "If this abuse continues I'm going to have to take serious action."

"Like what," Kimi asked.

"Shank ya, bro," he laughed and winked as she pushed him. "Besides, I'm no midget."

"Fine," she replied, "you're a dwarf."

"Right that's it," he said, tickling her.

"Get off me," she screamed in laughter.

"For goodness sake, guys," Chucky said, slowing down the car. "I'm trying to drive."

"Sorry, Chucky," Kimi said in a high pitched, childlike voice. She was enjoying high school, even though she pretended she didn't. Her and her friends driving around in a car, it made her feel so adult.

"Anyone get any homework then?" Tommy asked.

Kimi sighed when she heard this, all of her teachers had set her a bucket load. "Yeah, in like every lesson," Kimi said, leaning back into her seat.

"Except English," Phil remarked. "Yep, I have no homework."

"Damnit," Kimi said.

"Tommy, what's up?" Phil asked.

Tommy looked over, he had been leaning on the open window of the car. He shook his head. "Nothing," he frowned, "just sick of school already."

Chucky smiled, concentrating on the road. "My days gone great," he said. "I'm competing for county chess."

"Seriously?" Phil remarked. "That's pretty cool."

Chucky smiled, coming to a stop outside Tommy's house. "Thanks Chucky," Tommy said and got out, waving them goodbye as they drove away.

[II]

[P]

Phil lay on his back, in his room, listening to music. Suprisingly, he found himself constantly checking his watch, and bouncing the basketball against the ceiling. "Phil!" Betty called, and he stopped instantly.

He'd never felt like this, never. He felt like a fool, they all knew that Kimmy would end up with Tommy, that was the way things were meant to be. This knowledge didn't help him, then again, it did put things into perspective a little. In their friend group, Phil was the one who would remain alone, he could see it.

He checked his clock again, fifteen minutes to go, he thought. They were going to head off to the park in the middle of the nearby fields, there was a basketball court that the local bastards had avoided, he never understood why.

His door opened, and his mom was waiting for him. "How was school the, Philly?" she asked.

"Great," he said sarcastically. "I wish it was summer again!"

Betty laughed. "Where is your sister?" she asked.

"She's out with Angelica, she told me to tell you she will be back at around 8," Phil replied. "By the way, I'm going out tonight too."

Betty nodded, knowing the best way to let kids grow up is to let them make their own mistakes. She didn't pry, no need, she would probably find out in a minute anyway.

Phil's mom shut the door behind her as she left the room, leaving Phil on his own again. He shut his eyes and, surprisingly, fell asleep.

[P-15 minutes later]

Phil awoke to someone slapping his face, gently. "Mom, I told you not to do that!" he moaned, turning over. When he looked up, he saw Kimi shaking her head.

"I can't believe you fell asleep!" Kimi said, taking the ball off him.

"I can't believe you slapped me in the face!" Phil moaned, again, nursing his cheek.

Kimi winked, and pulled on Phil's shirt. "Come on then," she said. "Lets go!" She turned as Phil threw himself off the bed to wake himself up. "By the way, I'm not your mom!"

Phil rubbed his eyes and stood quickly, grabbing his Ipod and heading after her. Kimi was amazing, like no one he had ever met. He couldn't believe himself, knowing she would think he was insane if he said his feelings. That kind of thing does not happen between friends, especially best friends.

Phil burst through his front door, looking for Kimi, and he saw her sitting on the front lawn. "You're the one sitting down!" he called. "I thought you were in a rush!"

Kimi shook her head. Unknown to Phil, Kimi had been hit by a douse of realisation, and it is never good when it hits. She was suddenly worrying, her friends were falling away from her, growing up.

[C]

Chucky sat at his laptop, downloading the latest update from his favourite computer genius, Edward. Edward was a screen name, at least that was what Chucky thought. No one had ever seen Edward, but he was famous on the internet, he even had his own Wikipedia page (which was constantly vandalised by enemy computer hackers).

Chucky was happy, and he didn't know why. He spent a lot of his life depressed, but at this moment in time, he felt young, like the world was ahead of him. He didn't want to ruin it. His computer displayed a popup message:

"Not that I care, THEMIGHTYCHUCK, but your computer is infected, I recommend you run a scan with the file that you have downloaded from my website." -Edward

Chucky raised his eyebrow, this was a message from Edward himself. THEMIGHTCHUCK was Chucky's screen name, and he wished he was like Edward, he was his idol. Chucky had been bullied a lot over his life, but this Edward character was different, the whole world was afraid of him.

Chucky shut his laptop lid as he set the computer to scan for viruses.

[K]

Kimi dribbled the ball and made for the net, only to be tackled by Phil, who winked and took a shot from the halfway line, making it. "Nice," Kimi said.

Phil sat on the bench next to the court whilst Kimi tried to score. He had one headphone in, listening to a song by Bowling for Soup. Kimi turned to him. "Am I any good Phil?" she asked.

Phil smiled when he realised he could use a line out of the song. "No Hablo Ingles!" he remarked, causing Kimi to throw the ball at him. He dodged out of the way and laughed, hopping over the bench to retrieve it.

Phil got the ball and passed it back to Kimi. He saw her face, she was smiling. "What?" he said.

She shook her head. "Nothing," she replied.

Kimi passed the ball back. "Make another shot from halfway line," she said, and watched.

He threw the ball at the net. "Damn it," he said, when he missed.

Kimi picked the ball up. "Phil," she explained, "maybe I should join the basket ball team instead of you."

"Maybe," Phil laughed.

Kimi sat down on the bench. Phil took the ball off her as he sat beside her. "Phil," Kimi said. "This may sound weird, but do you think it's strange that I have never had a boyfriend?"

Phil frowned at her. "Where's this coming from?" he asked.

Kimi shook her head. "Doesn't matter," she said. "It was just, I'm fifteen, I should have had a boyfriend by now."

Phil smiled. "Don't worry about it Kimi," he said. "The boys at our school are bastards anyway, you're way to good for them."

Kimi smiled. "Thanks Phil," she said, and hugged him.

[L]

Lil was out with Angelica and the rest, sitting in a park. Lil felt uncomfortable when Angelica's friends smoked, and she was sure that Angelica felt uncomfortable as well. As popular as Angelica was, she never smoked, not once. Unlike a lot of people, this did not destroy her reputation.

Life had changed for Lil, she was popular, cool, hot and all of these other things that boys had called her. All of these things that other girls dreamed about. Since the start of summer until now, that's what she had been. So why wasn't she as happy.

Popularity did make her happy, but she had not been truly for a while, if you ignore once, today for only a minute. Being back with her real friends, being back with the old gang, it's what she wanted, in her heart.

She wanted to be with him.

End of Chapter 2

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	3. Chapter 3: In Too Deep

Chapter 3: In Too Deep

[K]

_The faster we're falling, we're stopping and stalling_

_We're running in circles again_

_Just as things were looking up, you said it wasn't good enough,_

_But still we're trying one more time._

_Maybe we're just trying too hard, _

_When really, it's closer than it is too far._

_Cas I'm in too deep and I try to keep_

_Up above in my head._

_Instead of going under. _

Kimi slammed her hand down on the alarm which was now really annoying her. She shook her head until she was awake and sat up. She could hear the bathroom sink running from outside of her room and Chuckie humming to himself the tune which had woken her up.

"Chucky!" she called. "Can you change the song on my alarm?" She had heard the song every day for over a year.

"Nope."

"Why not?"

"I don't know how," he laughed, whilst brushing his teeth. "Do you want me to drive you again?"

"Thanks Chuckie," Kimi said, getting dressed. Their parents had recently become obsessed with work, and Chas was expanding his market, so he went out early in the morning.

Five minutes later (after Kimi had dressed herself in black jeans, the usual kilt and her favourite yellow shirt) Kimi stumbled downstairs and poured herself a bowl of cereal before she died of hunger. Chuckie was already there, eating. He had become incredibly punctual recently, everything had to be clean and on time. Kimi didn't care, the only thing she wanted was for herself to be clean. Her room was a mess until Chuckie tidied it for her.

Chuckie, who had just finished, put his bowl at the sink and waited for Kimi. "How are you finding high school Kimi?" Chuckie asked.

"So far, so good," she replied, watching the turned off t.v that was hung up on the wall. She had to "convince" her parents for hours to get it, but even now, she never watched. "How about you?"

"No complaints here," Chuckie said. "We're taking Tommy and Phil again, ok?"

Kimi nodded and smiled to herself.

"I said I would take Lil, but Phil said she had other arrangements," Chuckie explained.

[P]

Later, in the cafeteria, Tommy, Phil and Kimi were talking about Kimi and Phil's English teacher. Chuckie would have been there, but he was off playing chess again. "Hate him," Kimi said.

"He aint that bad, Kimi," Phil replied. He was eating lunch and frowning at one of the lunch ladies who was glaring at them. "I think one of them has put something in this," he sighed, laying his fork down.

"Probably," Tommy said.

"Can you see my sis," Phil said, gesturing with his spoon to a table in the corner. Phil had picked up a spoon to work on his dessert.

Tommy and Kimi turned and saw the "popular table". The cheerleaders, footballers and tough guys were sitting around laughing. Lil was in the middle of the row, sitting with Angelica, with a big guy flirting with her.

"Oh," Kimi said. "Worried about Tim Morris putting the moves on your sister? She seems interested."

"No way," Tommy argued, shaking his head. "There is no way Lil would go out with someone like that."

"Think again, amigo," Kimi said, when she nodded and they were kissing.

Phil clenched his fist. "Don't bother, Phil," Tommy said, trying to calm him. Phil hated the idea of his sister with someone like that, someone cool but obviously a moron.

Chuckie came over and sat with them. "Hey guys," he said, when no one replied, he frowned. "What's up?"

"My sister being a player," Phil explained, who was now concentrating completely on his food. "Take a gander," he said.

"She's just finding out who she is, Phil," Tommy explained. "She'll get bored of that life some time, then she'll come back from the dark side."

"Anyway," Phil said. "How's the chess going Chuckie?" He didn't really care, but he would love for the conversation to be directed some other way.

"So far, so good," Chuckie said, that phrases was always said in his house, he had picked up on it. "My first tournament is in November, so I'm really practicing."

"Good for you, Chuckie," Kimi said.

[T]

Tommy sat in his chemistry class learning about ions, again. He didn't think that their teacher realised they were a higher group, yet no one corrected her, they were fine doing the easy work so they could listen to their music players and chat.

"Alright class," Mrs. Thorpe announced loudly, the class fell silent. "We are doing a practical today, so be quiet whilst I read out the pairs."

Tommy wasn't listening, he was staring at the back of Lil's head, she was sitting at the front of the room with her friend Abby. "Tommy Pickles, Lil De'ville," Mrs. Thorpe called and Tommy silently gasped.

"Haha," Abby snorted. "You get stuck with the freaky nerd."

Lil didn't say anything which annoyed Tommy a little, but he shook his head. It doesn't matter, he thought, I'm partnered with Lil, maybe I can get her to come back! "Get into your seats then," the teacher instructed, and Lil grabbed her things and moved over to Tommy, into the empty seat beside him.

"Hi Lil," Tommy said, and for some reason it felt a little awkward.

Lil smiled. "Hi Tommy."

Lil dropped her bag onto the floor and sat down. "So…" Tommy said. "How's high school?"

"Great so far," she replied, appearing to feel far less awkward than he was, which made Tommy feel even worse.

Tommy covered his book, having an idea. "I'm seriously having trouble with this chemistry." Tommy could be very devious, he knew was pretty good, maybe she would volunteer to help him.

"I like chemistry, mom makes me enrol in advanced placement classes and since then…" she shrugged.

"Bless my soul," Tommy mocked, winking. "Lil Deville is a nerd!"

"Shut up," Lil joked, and giggled. "I can help you sometime if you want."

Tommy smiled, hook, line and sinker, he thought. "That would be great Lil."

[K]

Later that day, Kimi and Phil were sitting in Kimi's bedroom, playing on her xbox. Phil and Lil were, at heart, gaming nerds, and were rapidly tapping buttons as they attempted to kill one another in the virtual world. "Come on then Kimi," Phil said, as he aimed his sniper at her.

You wouldn't believe how into it the two of them could get in Call of Duty, but they could, and they did. In fact, they had spent a lot of their holidays on the game. They both knew, full well, that they could play together at their respective houses, but they enjoyed the time with each other, even if they didn't admit it.

Kimi stabbed Phil in the back. "Damn it," Phil grumbled dropping his handset when she won the game, she winked at him.

"Wanna go for a walk?" Kimi asked. "Walk off the beating."

"Very funny," Phil joked. He stood up, whilst Kimi turned the consol on. "Go on then," he said.

Kimi smiled to herself when Phil wasn't looking. Her phone beeped and she got it. It was Chucky and he had sent her a text. "When are you coming back?" he read. Kimi checked her purple watch, it was twenty minutes past six. She texted back: "around eight, maybe." She loved being vague with Chucky, it really annoyed him.

Kimi shut the door to the house behind her. She giggled at the way Phil walked, she hadn't noticed before. He sort of leaned back with his hands in his pockets. "So, what's up Kimi?" Phil asked.

Kimi was taken aback, she hadn't said anything was wrong, but there was. "How did you know?" she asked.

"You never really want to go on walks," he chuckled. "So I figured something must be up."

"Sherlock," she joked. "Well…" she paused. "Do you think I'm girlfriend material?"

Phil almost fell over. "What do you mean?" he stuttered.

Kimi laughed. "It's not what you think," she said, then remembered what she was about to talk about. "Some of the popular girls from our own school were saying that I will always be the friend, nothing else, that I'm some ugly tomboy."

"You aren't ugly Kimi," Phil said, but Kimi ignored him.

"Phil," she sighed. "Nothing has ever happened to me, I'm sixteen years old and I've never been kissed."

"That doesn't matter," Phil explained, as they approached a crossroads, they stopped. One road lead back to Phil's house, the other to Kimi's. Kimi noticed Phil eyeing the road back to his.

"Yes it does Phil!" she grumbled with tears in her eyes. She opened her mouth to continue, but she was stopped. Stopped by Phil. Who was… kissing her. After what seemed like an eternity Phil broke away and hurried off down the other road, calling bye when he was a while away. Kimi stood, eyes wide in shock, in the middle of the pavement as it started to rain.

End of Chapter 3

Sorry that it is a short one, people, but I just wanted to introduce a new sub plot. I hope you will forgive me. Review and rate please, and I would like a number out of ten rating for both storyline and grammar, it would be helpful as a writer. ^^

By this I mean something like: 8/10 for story 5/10 for grammar. Thank you.


	4. Chapter 4: One Step at a Time

Chapter 4: One Step at a Time

[C]

Chuckie sat at the dining table, eating cereal whilst on his laptop, surfing the web. He checked his watch, and heard Kimi's alarm go off and chuckled to himself. To his surprise, Kimi was already downstairs, fully dressed, so she must have been awake for a while. "Hi Chuckie," Kimi said, without her usual ecstasy.

"Hi Kimmy," he replied, frowning as she went for her cereal.

"I'm going to walk home today, Chuckie," Kimi explained, sitting down.

"Why?" he asked. "What's up."

"Nothing," she replied. "Just felt like a walk."

The two of them heard a knock on the door, Kimi nodded at Chuckie and he went for the door. At this point, as if by magic, Kimi received a text from Phil.

[K]

Kimi looked at her phone, the background photo of her and Phil doing the peace sign. She smiled when she saw it, it was during the summer holiday. Kimi didn't really want to read the text, she didn't know what to do. She liked Phil, but she didn't know whether or not she wanted to be his girlfriend.

_Phil: Listen Kimi, we need to talk, can u give me a ring?x_

Kimi bit her bottom lip and walked out of the room. She dialled his number.

Phil: Hey Kimi

Kimi: Hi Phil

Phil: I'm sorry about last night, it was just a spur of the moment thing.

Kimi: Don't worry about it,

Phil: I really hope things aren't awkward or anything.

Kimi: Nope, again, don't worry about it.

Phil: Ok Kimi, see you are school.

Kimi: Bye Player.

Phil: See ya, bitch.

Kimi smiled broadly when she hung up the phone, at least things were back to normal. To be honest, she was glad that her first kiss had been with Phil.

[T]

Tommy was in homeroom, bored out of his mind listening to everyone talk about all sorts. As much as he tried not to think, he always thought about her. God damn it, he thought. Just as he finished, the intercom on the wall made a large squeaky sound.

"Hello everyone," the announcer, the principle, said. "We have a large change in school starting Monday: We are enforcing a school uniform. Information on the uniform is given at the notice boards dotted around the school." Cries of outrage shot out of some of the students in Tommy's room. Tommy, himself, was not pleased. "Also, can Chuckie Finster, Lil Deville, Jack Hartly," and a long name of lists, "Come to my office please.

Tommy frowned and texted Chuckie: "What's this about?" he asked.

A few seconds later Tommy got a reply. "No idea," it read. Seconds later Tommy got another text, from Kimi and then another a few seconds later. They both pretty much said the same thing, bar a few uses of course language, and said:

"WHAT! HOW CAN THEY MAKE US WEAR UNIFORM! Any idea whats going on with Chuckie?"

Tommy texted back letting them know that he to was outraged and that he had no idea what was wrong with Chuckie. So Tommy sat back and waited from Chuckie to tell him what was going on.

[C]

Chuckie and the others waited anxiously outside of the office. Lil came and sat by him. "Lil," he said. "How've you been?" trying to sound as casual as possible, but really just sounding like an idiot.

"Hi Chuckie!" she said, "I've been great, you?"

"I've been good," he said. He looked around at the people around him. There were maths geeks, nerds and chess club members. He was surrounded by the smartest kids in the school. Lil, dressed as a cross between a cheerleader and a Barbie, looked ridiculously out of place. "Why do you think we're here then?" he asked her.

Lil shook her head. "Got to be something to do with grades," she replied.

The hefty door to the principles office opened and he gestured them in. Compared to Pangborn, this guy was tiny, but he was still very large, with greased back black hair and a grey suit. "Hello everyone," he said once they had gathered around his desk, there were about fifteen kids, including Chuckie and Lil, who were still standing by each other.

"I have called you all in here regarding a convention the school is holding this year," he explained. "The annual gifted children lectures are taking place here, in case you haven't heard. The fifteen of you have been chosen to represent our school."

Chucky frowned, he had no idea Lil was so smart. A cocky physics genius named Arnold (the second of the two geniuses in maths at their high school) said: "What happens then, who is giving the lecture, some Harvard professor?"

The principle shook his head. "No," he said. "The lecture will be given by a child at X high school."

"A child?" Arnold complained. "No way am I being lectured by a child. Who is he/she then?"

The principle fiddled with his notes. "He went to university in Oxford when he was 11, but got kicked out for rudeness and refusal, he is a computer programmer and hacker and Physics genius with an Iq of over 190," Arnold raised his eyebrow and looked irate. "His name is Edward Johnson."

"What?" Chuckie burst out; the other computer geeks there had similar surprise. "The Edward Johnson?"

"I assume so," the principle said. "Anyway, make sure you check the uniform on your way out and make sure that you look presentable, I don't want to lose to those X high school kids and the such. Dismissed."

Chuckie was shocked. Edward Johnson was a computer hacker who was in contact with him and sent him programs he had created. He was world famous but Chuckie had no idea about the university and that he was a maths genius. Chuckie imagined what he would be like.

[P]

Phil sat listening to Chuckie go on and on about Edward, rolling his eyes occasionally to Tommy. "It's a total bromance," he remarked and Tommy snickered behind his hand. It was lunch now and Phil, Chuckie and Tommy were sitting at their usual table, waiting for Kimi.

Kimi came and sat opposite Phil and he fell silent. Kimi smiled at him as he felt so embarrassed. He shook himself, getting rid of the feeling. He would never fall for that sort of emotion. "What's going on then Chuckie?" she asked.

"Me and Lil and some others have been selected to represent the school at a genius convention, you're welcome to come to the lectures, we are allowed to bring people," he explained, talking far faster than usual.

"That's amazing Chuckie," Kimi commented.

Phil snickered. "I can safetly say that I am ill, Chuckie," he said and Kimi laughed. "Whose giving the lectures then?"

"A kid from X called Edward Johnson," Chuckie explained. When he saw their blank faces at the name he elaborated. "He is a genius computer/ physics nut."

They shook their heads and then something registered. "Lil's going?" Tommy blurted out.

Chucky nodded. "I had no idea she was so smart, but according to some of my friends in the computer lab, she is a straight A student."

They all shook their heads in disbelief, except Phil. "I knew," he said, thinking about the times Lil had come home boasting about her latest grade and talking down to Phil about his lowly C's and B's.

"Why didn't you say anything?" Kimi asked.

"You never asked," he replied, beginning to shovel food in his mouth to avoid the social awkwardness, but just ended up making himself look a fool.

"This new uniform thing is ridiculous," Kimi said, spelling out the syllables in the last word, remembering what was annoying her the most at the moment.

"Judging by the way the principle spoke," Chuckie interjected. "I'm pretty sure it is to impress the other teachers who are coming with smart kids from other schools."

"Yeah," Tommy agreed. "Maybe it will pass after the convention is over. When is it then, Chuckie?"

"Monday," Chucky said.

Phil laughed when he saw how nervous Chuckie was getting. "What's up Chuck?" he joked. "Can't handle a little competition."

"I didn't even know I was smart, guys," he replied. "But if Edward is going to be there then there will be people ten times smarter than I am."

[T]

The day dragged on, the time rolling as slow as it possibly could until finally the final bell rang. Chuckie had told him that Kimi and Phil weren't taking a ride today. So it would be the two of them, like old times. Chucky was waiting by his car, putting his bag in the boot.

"Hi Tommy," a familiar voice said behind him. It was Lil.

"Lil," he said. "How are you?" His words sounded very forced.

Lil giggled. Then gestured with her head behind her, where a furious Angelica was punching her now smoking car.

"God damn piece of junk!" she screamed.

"I suppose you want a ride then," he smiled. "Chucky," he called and Chucky looked up. "Can you give Lil and maybe an Angelica a ride?"

Chucky nodded. "Hi again Lil," he called. When he realised Tommy had said Angelica, he sighed in irritation. Angelica had done nothing but been mean to him since they were babies.

Tommy smirked and got in the front of the car, hearing Lil talking to Angelica about taking a ride with Tommy. "With Finster and Pickles!" she almost screamed. "I would rather walk."

"Go on then," Tommy called. "Lil, you coming?"

Angelica finally gave in and got in the back of the car, followed by Lil, who looked strangely comfortable in a car she had never been in. Chucky started the car and it stalled, he swore and tried again. "Can this piece of junk actually start?" Angelica asked.

Chuckie bit his bottom lip and Tommy could see he was irritated. Tommy turned back to Lil. "Lil, what are we going to do our project on?" he asked.

"Your doing a project with Tommy?" Angelica said, but Lil ignored her.

"No idea yet, but I'm sure the teacher will let us know tomorrow," Lil replied.

"On a much more serious note," Angelica grumbled. "Have you seen the new school uniforms? They look like garbage, white tops with a red tie and black suit bottoms."

"Is that what they look like?" Tommy asked, he hadn't looked at the sheet yet, it completely skipped his mind. He was concentrating on Lil at the moment and thought that it would be common interest (he wasn't interested, but Lil was) and could start a conversation.

"Yeah," Lil said. "Listen Tommy, do you want to come over to mine when we get the project information?"

"Yeah, sounds cool," Tommy replied.

"Don't be a nerd Lil," Angelica said. "You are already invited to that genius thing, don't soil your reputation any more."

The car drive progressed with dull conversation between Tommy and Lil and Angelica, Chucky remained silent, he didn't want a run in with Angelica, not this early into school. Tommy felt whole again, and he could feel that he was convincing Lil to come back.

"Do you want to come with me to the lectures, Chuckie and Tommy?" Lil asked.

Tommy nodded and smiled. One step at a time.


	5. Chapter 5: Your's Truly

Authors note: Gentle Fillmore crossover. Not going to put it as it won't come up on main Rugrats page.

Chapter 5: Yours Truly

The week dragged on slowly for the gang of Rugrats. Phil and Kimi were still best friends, though there was definitely angst between them. To combat this, Phil's obsession with basketball had increased and Kimi had joined every club she could think of, bar the chess club.

The ominous feeling of the new school uniform hit them Monday morning, when Phil, Tommy, Kimi and Chuckie were driving to school. The uniforms looked and felt uncomfortable and Phil itched in his. The genius convention was all Chuckie could talk about, he was surprisingly modest. He was not boasting about the fact that he was invited, but that he could go. He loved maths and he really wanted to meet Edward Johnson.

Kimi had managed to style up her new uniform. She had her hair ties up in two ponytails, like before. However, the look on her face told them all how much hatred she had for the suit that they were forced in.

[T]

Tommy leaned out of the window, out of the four of them, he was the least bothered about the change to uniform. If anything, it made it easier for him to change in the morning. "I can't believe we have to wear uniforms," Kimi complained as they drove through the gates of the car.

"I know," Phil said, pulling his collar away from his neck.

Tommy ignored the two of them, or at least tried to. He turned his mind outward, looking forward to the lecture today. Not for the maths, no of course not, but for the chance to sit by Lil in the lecture. He was a little worried he would look thick in front of her, but that is another story entirely.

There were more cars than usual, far more. Yet they were there early. "These must be the geniuses," Phil muttered, chuckling at Chucky. Three girls stepped out of a car; they had curly hair and looked a bit like a female Chucky.

"Get in there, Chuckie," Kimi joked as she parked.

Tommy looked around almost frantically for Lil. He was excited; this was another chance to bring her back to them. He was pretty sure that she wanted to; he just needed to convince her to leave Angelica. Angelica could be a powerful enemy to have.

[K]

Kimi climbed out of Chuckie car in her horrid uniform. She was constantly complaining in her head. She love being individual and now she was some robot like freak, like the rest of the world. She hated the uniform so much.

Kimi and the gang leaned against the wall by the entrance, watching the nerds from the other schools hurry in. They all looked like stereotypes: short, with glasses and clutching at their notebooks which looked pretty full, with bags to big for them. Most of them travelled in groups of about three.

Five minutes later, when most people were in the corridors (it was starting to get cold). Kimi and Chucky had remained outside. There was a loud, roar like sound which caused Kimi to look around. A motorbike sped through and parked rapidly, followed by a black convertible close behind.

Kimi frowned. This couldn't be any smart kid, it would have to be a teacher or something. The biker got off, he was wearing a thick, leather jacket and blue jeans with a black helmet with a flame on it. He got off, and took the helmet off.

He was a strange one. His slightly curly, short and messy hair on his head looked clean, but no attention had been give to it at all. He was tall, and leaned down on one leg like he was hurt. He reached for something on his bike and pulled it off, it was a walking stick. The black convertible doors opened and two others climbed out.

The first was much shorter than the biker, with a shaved head and black skin. He was wearing a green top which was creased. He had what appeared to be an expensive watch on and was eyeing the biker suspiciously. The second to leave the car was a girl. She had black hair that didn't look dyed and a black dressed on it. Her eyes were pitch black and shiny. Not only that, they were quite large.

The three walked toward the entrance, only one of them noticing Kimi and Chucky. The biker led the group, leaning on his walking stick/cane as he went. His walking stick also had a flame on it. "Why did you bring the bike?" The girl asked as they drew close enough for Chucky and Kimi to hear.

"Why did you bring the car, Ingrid," the biker said.

"To drive here."

"Well there you go," the biker said. He turned and noticed the Kimi and Chucky. Kimi smiled, and the boy came over. He was much taller when they were closer, his leather jacket was very nice, Kimi thought.

"Hello," the biker said to Kimi.

"Hi," she said. She had always gone for the whole, bad boy idea, but she had no idea why this guy was here. Maybe he was new, because there is no way he was here for the lectures.

"Hi," Chucky said, looking a little annoyed.

The biker frowned. "What's up?" he asked Chucky.

"Nothing," Chucky said. Kimi looked to Chucky, he looked no different from usual. Who is this guy? She thought.

"Oh I see," the biker said, whilst Ingrid and the other boy looked at each other and chuckled, quietly. "Protective. Judging by how close the two of you are standing but not touching you aren't romantically involved. But, there is a protective look." He stopped and looked at Chucky. "You're her brother, aren't you?"

Kimi gasped, amazed. "Wait," he said, pretending to realise something. "He has ginger hair, and your Japanese."

"How did you know?" Kimi asked.

"Your hair," he noted. "No Chinese person would wear it as cool as it is."

Kimi giggled, really taking to this guy. He was very smart, maybe he was here for the convention. Still, she thought, he doesn't look like a nerd. "That means he is your step brother, and judging by the relationship you have know each other since you were babies, am I in the right ball park."

"Spot on," Kimi said, whilst Chucky frowned, irate at this guy.

"What's your name?" The boy asked.

"Kimi Finster," Kimi said, blushing slightly.

"Well, Kimi Finster," he said, in what Kimi could hear as a slightly English accent. "We will have to speak again sometime, ok?"

"Ok then," Kimi said.

The biker, Ingrid and the boy turned away. Chucky looked at them and realised something. Just before he walked into the front door of the school Chucky called out to him. "You didn't tell us your name."

The boy turned. "Oh, I must have forgotten," he said, pushing the door open. "My names Edward Johnson." He told them, and walked through the door, followed closely by the other two.

Just before the other two left, they announced themselves. "I'm Fillmore, by the way," Fillmore, the darker child said, and smiled.

"I'm Ingrid Third," she said, following Fillmore. "I think we will meet again," she said, and laughed as she went.

Kimi leaned back against the wall. "What on earth," she said. Edward Johnson, the super nerd genius that Chuckie always were on about, was _HOT_. It made no sense, it was like falling upward. It didn't happen!

"That's Edward?" Chucky said in disbelief before stuttering but, over and over again.

"He's a looker," Kimi said.

Chucky instantly prickled at the sound. "Kimi," he said. "He looks like a tramp!"

"Your just saying that because he is smarter than you," Kimi teased, before heading up the steps and inside.

[P]

"So what's going on then?" Phil said, watching Kimi eat her food and look around for someone. "I just spoke to my teachers, they are fine with me going to this lecture thing. I am going to be bored as hell, but at least it is better than Physics. No going back now though."

Kimi stopped. "Phil, the lecture is about physics," she laughed.

"Damn it!" Phil said. Tommy and Chuckie came and sat down. "So, any news my amigos?"

Chucky nodded. "Kimi and me met Edward Johnson," Chucky explained.

Phil laughed. He pictured in his mind a smaller Chucky, with four inch lens on his black, square glasses. AT least it would give him something to laugh at on the hour long lecture that was approaching. There were ten lectures, or something like that, and Phil was trying to go to all of them, to avoid as much school as possible. "What is he like then," Phil laughed. "Little bug eyes nerd."

"No," Kimi scoffed. "He's dreamy," she said.

Phil dropped his fork. "What are you saying?" he gasped. "You are attracted to nerds?"

"He isn't like an ordinary nerd," Chucky said. "He has a motorbike and wears a leather jacket, has messy hair and a bit of stubble. It is the strangest thing I have ever come across."

"That's insane," Phil said. He was trying to hide his jealously. He felt strongly for Kimi, but he didn't want to rush anything. This, Edward guy was a genius with a motorbike, how could Phil compete with that?

The bell rang and they got up from their place. Lil came over. "Hi guys," she said, smiling at her old group.

"Hi," they said in unison, though some less enthusiastic than others. They hadn't forgotten that she had ditched them. Either Lil didn't guess this, or she ignored them. "Do you want to go to the lecture then?" she asked.

"Sure," Tommy said, and gestured the others to follow him. Phil was a little startled, he had just noticed there were two outliers to his nerd equation. Did he just think that? Flames, he thought, the nerdness is catching! Lil wasn't a stereotypical nerd either, she was, apparently, attractive and cool. She was one of the most popular girls in the school. This was too weird for words.

[K]

They reached their seats, near the middle, and Phil kicked his feet up on the chair in front of him. There was a stage in front of them with a lot of whiteboards as well as a desk with a bottle of water on it. People were chatting around them, though mostly about star trek and maths.

"Well, this is going to be a snooze fest," Phil said, putting a cap on and leaning it over his eyes.

Kimi was waiting for Edward to come out, and as the talking ceased, the tall, handsome nerd stepped out, his walking stick shining in the light. "Quite a turnout," he said, and gazed around.


	6. Chapter 6: Just for a moment

Chapter 6: Just for a Moment

[T]

Tommy raised an eyebrow as Lil got her notebook out and looked up at him. "Surprised?" she said, winking. "Never thought I liked maths?"

He smiled. "I did not," he said, leaning back on his chair and looking at the stage as a guy in a leather jacket came in. There is no way that's Edward Johnson, he thought.

"Quite a turn out," Edward said, looking around, appearing to scan the crowd with his dark brown eyes. "Well, at least half," he said, nodding his head. "Twenty two of you to be exact, are hear to get out of class, but I guess that doesn't matter."

Tommy raised his eyebrow. Phil pulled his cap off his face and leaned over to Tommy, "How the hell did he get that number?" Phil whispered and Tommy shrugged.

"Simple," Edward said. There was no way he could have heard them, they were at least eleven rows back. Tommy and Phil looked up. At one end of the row, Chuckie and Kimi sat, Chuckie was getting his notes and Kimi was staring at Edward. Next was Phil and Tommy and finally Lil. "Boy with the ridiculous cap on," Edward said, causing Phil to frown. "The ones getting their notebooks out are the ones who are here to learn."

"There is no way he could hear me," Phil whispered to Kimi.

"Didn't need to hear you," Edward said. "It was written all over your face."

Edward looked out to the crowd. "There's my principle," he said, pointing to her. "She has blackmailed me to come here, how are you doing Principle Folsom?" The principle shook her head in disgust. "I see all the kids from this school have uniforms, and by the looks of it, you got them today. Nice, the head teacher of the school has decided to try and impress the others."

"Anyway, no more introductions, lets get onto the Physics that most of you won't be able to understand," he said, picking up a black marker and writing a long equation on the board. Tommy scratched his head as he read it. "This is Schrödinger's quantum mechanical modelling of a one dimensional particle trapped in a one dimensional box. I am sure most of you have researched the inner workings of quantum theory, if not; you need to when this is over. All of these lectures will be orientated to Schrodinger's equations."

Edward drew a small graph on the board. "Through simple mathematics, Schrodinger created a wave function of a second derivative, forming a field that would constantly regenerate. When squared, this wave forms a one dimensional vector space of probabilities, when one is selected, it calculates the probability of a particle in that point. Using a line integral, that is…"

Edward went on and on about maths that just confused Tommy, and most of it was overpowered by Phil snoring. Oddly enough, Lil seemed to get all of it, and it appeared that she was designing her own graphs using what he was saying. "What the hell," Tommy whispered to quite for Lil to hear.

Secretly, he couldn't care less about the lecture, he was just happy to be sitting next to her. Taking in her smell, her presence, was perfect. It was like a part of him was missing, and it was aching. It was back. Even this moment, when she probably wasn't even interested in him, was like heaven.

[P]

"Argh," Phil moaned as the five of them left their seats and headed up through the other rows to the door.

"Feeling tired, Phillip?" Lil asked.

"No, Lillian," he replied, glaring at her. "We had to sit through all of that."

"You didn't," Kimi corrected and he turned to her. "You fell asleep the whole time, we could all hear you."

Phil chortled to himself about getting away with sleeping in a lecture, for the first time in his life. He didn't even bother to look at the equations on the board. In no way was he thick, but he wasn't that smart. "So, you guys want to hit the pool tonight?" Kimi asked. Since the Java Lava had taken off, the family had become far richer and installed a pool.

"Yeah," Tommy and Phil said, looking out to the packed hall which was now being flooded with dumbstruck nerds. Kimi headed off down the hall, on her own, as Phil opened his locker (which happened to be right next to the lecture theatre, much to his annoyance).

"Did you understand a word?" Phil asked, pulling out the rest of his stuff to take home.

"Nope," Tommy said. "You sister though, man I had no idea she was so smart."

"Yeah well," Phil said, he was secretly a little annoyed with his sister, she was smart and popular, and everything Phil wasn't.

[K]

Kimi walked down the hall, looking both ways. There was something she hadn't told her friends, her parents, and she tried to avoid it herself. She was being blackmailed for money, every day, by a bullying jock from the senior year. It was driving her mad and making her cry.

"Finster," a deep voice said behind her, causing her to turn.

"Hello… Craig," she said, grabbing her bag tightly to her chest.

He smiled nastily. "You know the deal, that will be five pounds," he said, holding out his hand. "Or I'll go after your brother and break his crappy teeth."

Kimi bit her lip to stop herself crying as she handed over the money. He smiled at her as he counted it. He had stubble, and looked older than he actually was. Just as he was about to walk away, he and Kimi heard a voice. "Is there a problem?" it said.

Kimi turned, and a few metres away was Edward Johnson, from the lecture. "Fuck off, kid," he said, walking away.

Edward smiled and as the jock tried to walk away he put his cane in front of him and stared him in the eye. "How much money did he take, Kimi?" Edward asked, without looking away.

"It doesn't matter, Edward, honest," she said.

Craig grabbed the his cane, "do you have a problem?" Craig said.

Before he could react, Edward had flipped his cane back and slammed the cane into him, pinning him to the lockers. He then leaned forward and punched him in the stomach. He fell forward as he became winded and Edward grabbed his face and pulled it back up, before slamming his head into lockers. "Do you have a problem?" he asked. "Listen to me, give her back the money you took from her." As he said this he squeezed his face harder, causing him to cry out.

Craig leaned out and chucked it on the floor. Kimi bent down to pick it up. "Now," Edward said. "Onto the next part; If I find you, or anyone else, has bothered Kimi or her brother Chuckie, I am coming after you. You will think this beating was a walk in the park. Understand," he said and punched him again.

"Yes," he shouted out. Edward let go of him and he scurried off.

Edward walked away. "Edward," Kimi said, he turned his head slightly. Kimi was now in awe of him. "Thank you."

Edward chortled. "Don't worry about it," he said as he walked away.

[L]

Lil was sitting in her room, listening to the music Phil was playing loudly through his wall. She was so happy, she had been invited by Kimi to go to hers after school. This wouldn't affect her reputation, and it would allow her to hang out with her old friends again. She could barely contain her joy. There was more to it than that, however, much more.

Tommy was there, the Tommy Pickles. The guy she had dreamed about for years. To be honest, that dream was one of the reasons she left the group to join the popular kids. She couldn't stand to see Kimi and Tommy flirting, it tore her apart, even though nothing ever happened between them. Now she was coming back, but not leaving her new group. It was the best of both worlds.

Phil's music turned down suddenly and Lil checked her phone. "Lillian," he said, barging into her room without knocking, he never did, which was very irritating for Lil. "Time to go, Lil. Get up, get moving!" He always did that, spoke down to her like he was her parent or something, not her younger brother (seconds count! She thought).

The Edward guy was strange, but she didn't need to be a genius to see that Kimi saw something in him; she could see it in her eyes. Lil stood up and brushed herself off. She was wearing her best jeans and top, with her favourite bathing suit underneath, just in case. At least it was still warm. Phil, that the social outcast he was, was wearing shorts with a dolphin on. "You really should knock," she said as she left the room, locking it behind her.

[L-Later]

Phil and Lil arrived at Kimi's about five minutes later and Chuckie directed them out the back. Lil took in the sights, she hadn't been in this back garden for almost a month, before she almost lived there. Her stomach tightened at the thought of her childhood slipping away from her. She didn't want it to, but it did.

Tommy waved, he was lying on his back in the pool. Kimi was doing laps vigorously and Lil could only assume she was angry or training for something. Chuckie was sitting on the swing nearby playing chess against a pocket computer. Wow, Chuckie is cool, she joked in her head.

"Oh yeah, baby," Phil said, pulling off his shirt and sprinting to the pool, jumping in screaming "cannonball" at the top of his lungs, landing right beside Kimi and Chuckie, who laughed when he did.

Lil didn't know what to do. "Come on Lil," Kimi said, smiling.

Suddenly the awkwardness was gone. She ran inside and got changed quickly, before diving in expertly. Just as she hit the water, she remembered how many times she had been in this pool. Just for a moment, it seemed, things were back to normal. Just for a moment, she was whole again.

End of Chapter 6

In case you haven't noticed, this is the first time I have written in any detail about Lil's feelings. She is now in the story more, much more, and will become a main character more. For fans, the story romances will now be (but not always, you will have to wait and see ^^):

PhilxNat

KimixEdward

LilxTommy


	7. Chapter 7: I Don't Wanna Grow Up

Chapter 7: I Don't Wanna Grow Up

[K]

Kimi and Lil were sitting side by side with their legs in the pool whilst Tommy, Phil and now Chuckie (who beat the chess computer) were seeing who could hold their breath the longest. In an event that almost made Kimi and Lil die of laughter, Phil nearly drowned. Kimi and Lil were laughing and chatting about old times. Kimi was much happier than she had been since Edward had sorted out Craig, and she wouldn't mention it to anyone because she didn't want them to worry.

"Hi guys," a familiar voice said. It was Dil, his hair much messier than it had been the last time Kimi had seen him. He had a shirt on with a smiley face, what was known to him as the awesome face. "What's a hap?"

Dil looked around for everyone and only saw Kimi and Lil. "Where are they?" he asked.

"If you mean the dweebs," Kimi said, she gestured to the pool. "They are seeing who can drown themselves the fastest." Lil laughed.

"Cool," Dil said. "How long will they be down there?"

Lil took Kimi's arm and checked her purple watch. "For Phil, I'd give it three… two… one," she gestured and Phil's head popped up. When Kimi looked, gobsmacked, at her she giggled. "Been counting through the other games, Phil's pretty much the same. Tommy will win this one."

"Can't wait for them," Dil said and called out to Phil. "Hi Phil, can you get the dudes for me?"

"Sup Dil, and sure," he said and kicked the other two.

Kimi and Lil laughed as the two of them shot up. "What the hell was that for?" Tommy shouted. Phil gestured to Dil and Tommy rubbed his chest as he turned.

The day was warm, the perfect day for a group of friends to be gathered around a pool. It was the kind of thing in a film at least that was how Kimi saw it. She could cringe at her expression, but she deemed it fitting. They were a bunch of happy misfits who loved a laugh and didn't care what others thought, all except for Lil.

Kimi couldn't decide what she thought about Lil. She was obviously very smart, so why was she hanging out with Jocks. It was nice having her back, but it caused an irritating conundrum which was running around her head. On average I.Q, bar the chess club and computer club, their group was the smartest, and would nearly reach the chess club if Lil joined. Kimi wasn't thick, but she hated that kind of attention. One thing she could do that no one knew was play the piano, but she had no idea how good she was.

"What's up Dil?" Tommy asked.

"Just got a message from school," he explained, kicking his shoes off and jumping in with his strange jumpsuit like thing that couldn't be described by modern science, or that's how Kimi saw it. "They are moving me to your school for nine days."

"Why?" Tommy asked. "Does it have anything to do with the lectures."

"Spot on T," Dil said, swimming around slowly. "I'm coming with you then, tomorrow."

"Cool," Tommy said. What the hell, Kimi thought, how many people in our group are smart? On another note with the group, she was having an inner battle with her emotions. She liked Phil, she had for a while. It had increased when he kissed her, as it would. Edward, however, was something else. She thought it was only a crush, she hoped so, because she had no chance with this guy.

Kimi stood. "Diving board," she called like a character off a TV show. Kimi loved swimming and as she dived off the highest one she decided that she had to add "Join the swimming club" to tomorrows to do list. She hit the water expertly with barely a splash. "Thanks Kimi," Phil joked, wiping water out of his eyeballs. He was lying on his back, staring at the sky. Kimi looked at him and smiled. You know what, she thought to herself. I like my life.

[T]

Tommy swam over to Lil, who was sitting by the side of the pool. "Enjoying the new uniform?" he joked, treading water in front of her.

She giggled and shook her head. "Not a chance," she replied. "It feels good to be out of it."

Tommy found it easy to talk to Lil, he always had. It was strange, when he couldn't take his mind or eyes off of Kimi, he found it difficult to talk to her freely, but Lil was different. He didn't like her as much as he had Kimi, he told himself it was some sort of first love cliché. Still, he could feel the emotions growing.

"Is everyone enjoying the lectures then?" Chuckie said, breaking the mood by bringing all of their thoughts back to school, again. They sort of liked high school, but hated it aat the same time. Tommy was enjoying it so far, but not as much as the old group back together.

"Chuckie," they moaned in unison and broke into laughter when they realised they had all done it at the same.

"What?" he called.

"Don't remind us of school," Kimi complained. They were interrupted by a loud sound of a motorbike. They looked out of the garden and saw a bike shoot by at an alarming speed, but the caught a look at the helmet of the biker.

Chuckie frowned. "Isn't that Edward?" he said.

Kimi nodded. "I think so," she said.

"Edward the genius?" Tommy said, he nodded his head slowly. He imagined how great it would be to have a motorbike, or a car, or anything which he could drive around in with him in control of where to go. He liked driving around with Chuckie, but he would prefer it if it were him at the wheel.

[T-Next Day]

"You know this is illegal, right?" Chuckie complained as Phil, Kimi, Dil, Lil and Tommy crushed themselves into the car. Kimi lying along Phil, Lil and Dil on the back seat. "Kimi, do you have to sit there?"

"I can't fit anywhere else!" Kimi complained. "Now drive, Chucko," she ordered, lying down as flat as she could so that no one else could see her outside of the car. Tommy tried to catch a glance at Lil, who was leaning against the window, her head propped up on her arm.

Chuckie leaned forward and put a song on, for some reason, Tommy took an instant like to the lyrics, even though it was very old, at least the seventies:

"Slow down, sweet talking woman,

You got me running (run run).

You've got me searching.

Hold on, sweet talking lover,

It's so sad, if that's the way it's over!"

"Turn it off Chuckie," Kimi complained.

"This is pretty good," Tommy said, and turned to Kimi glaring at him.

"Tommy," she moaned. "Don't encourage him or he will never play modern music like everyone else in the world."

Tommy laughed, Chuckie was backwards in his music taste. Dil was sitting surprisingly still and staring out the window. Tommy frowned, this wasn't like Dil. "What's up, "D"?" he asked.

"Nothing bro," he said, but not stopping to look out of the window. "Just a bit worried about high school, not much though," he said, turning his head and smiling, scratching his head.

[P]

The gang strolled to their seat and sat down. "This should be fun then," Dil said, he was back to normal. Phil thought he must have got over his early fear of high school and it's members.

"Yeah," Phil replied, pulling his cap down again and putting his feet up. "If you like an hour of boredom, talk about space, physics and electrons and whatever." Phil wasn't interested in mathematics or computers, but that didn't mean he wasn't smart. He had, but would never admit it (even under threatening of death), but he had a passion toward medicine around the human body. He got B's at school, and he had decided to try next year, this would be his calm before the storm.

Phil was sitting next to Kimi again and Tommy. Tommy was sitting next to Dil and Lil was sitting next to Dil on the other side. Chuckie was next to Kimi. Since the end of middle school and the start of high school the group seemed to have split up into irritating factions, and it was really starting to get to Phil.

He spent most of his time with Kimi and Tommy, though less with Tommy. Kimi and Chuckie and Tommy hung out a lot. Lil had gone off her own way. They spent time as a group together far less then they did. In a way, it was good because it made the time they spent together even better, but they were growing up and growing up. If that was what growing up meant, then Phil didn't want to.

Edward's speech went on and on and Phil just couldn't get to sleep. Just as he finally nodded off, his phone buzzed in his top pocket. "Damn it," he said, pulling his cap off his head and picking his phone up. It was a text from a guy, named Will, who sat next to him in trigonometry lessons.

"_Sup Phil, my man. There is a party this Saturday, you wanna come? You can bring whoever you want, it is one of those big ones. You know, those ones with about a thousand people going, lol.__ It's Jacks for juniors, you don't know him. Can I see you there bro?"_

Phil laughed. This is just what he needed, a teen party, with all the stuff that the name entailed. He replied that he definitely would be there and got the details in the next text. "Amigos," he said, Kimi put her finger to her lips to signal that he should whisper. "Fine then," he whispered. "There's a big ass party on Saturday, you guys in."

"Definitely," Tommy said.

"Do I have to?" Chuckie moaned and Kimi gave him a dirty look. "Fine," he concluded after a minutes thought.

"I'll be there," Kimi said.

"You mean Jack's?" Lil asked, they all turned to her. "Yeah, I already going, Rick's taking me."

Phil frowned. "Rick?" he muttered angrily. "The junior giant in the football team? What the hell Lil?" Great, Phil thought, another way for my no good sister to embarrass me, just great.

"Is there a problem, Phillip?" she asked, putting strain on every syllable, before the two of them realised that they were getting louder and louder.

"I don't like you dating that guy!" he almost shouted.

"Guys," Tommy said, trying to calm them and giving Phil a look.

"I'm not dating him Phil," she said. "It's none of your business who I date anyway, you know what, fuck off!" she got up and stormed off, in anger, out of the room. The whole room fell silent. Phil shook his head in disgust as he head Edward laughing and continuing.

"Smooth Phil," Tommy muttered before shutting up and leaning back in his seat. Phil snorted in response and pulled his cap down over his face. On second thought, he thought, maybe I do wanna grow up.

[C]

Chuckie sat in the chess room with Tommy, Tommy didn't usually play chess but he wanted a new outlet and Chuckie just wanted a game. Chuckie's mind was taken up with two things: 1. Kimi and her sudden crush on a biker and 2. The lectures. He didn't have enough thought to spare on chess, but he could still easily wipe the floor with Tommy.

"What do you think of this Edward guy?" Chuckie said as he took Tommy's king.

Tommy looked up. "Why?" he said with a frown.

Chuckie shrugged. "She just seems to have a little…" he stuttered. "Don't say I told you," he said. "I think she has a crush on him."

"So?" Tommy said, turning his eyes back to the board, he thought it was something more important than that.

"So?" Chuckie repeated. "He has a motorbike."

"Listen Chuckie," Tommy explained, after Chuckie got him in checkmate. "I know that you get overprotective when it comes to Kimi, and I know you don't like her liking anyone. To be honest though, you couldn't ask for a better guy for her."

"What do you mean?" he asked, frowning and putting the board in the box where the rest were and putting his pieces into his bag.

Tommy smiled and headed for the door. "He is a genius computer nerd Chuckie," Tommy explained. "He isn't exactly going to go out on the bottle or fight. I think you have struck lucky, dude."

Chuckie nodded. Tommy was right, after all, it was like old times and Tommy was the leader again. It was nice, Chuckie didn't like getting older. He didn't like it at all.

End of Chapter 7

Authors note: Hello everyone, Tend to Infinity here. Thanks for the views and comments and favourites and alerts, they are much appreciated given that we are about half way through this story, I hope you are enjoying it. In case you haven't noticed, I am updating a lot faster now. I hope to have finished this story by the end of the month and started my next one. Whether or not it will be on rugrats or something else, I am not sure. Whether or not I will do a sequel, I don't know. So my question to you is, do you want a sequel to this story. Your comments will come into consideration. Tend to Infinity is out, peace.


	8. Chapter 8: Like a Bat Out of Hell

Chapter 8: Like a Bat Out of Hell

Authors note: Hello everyone, after a lot of work, this is going to be a long chapter, as long as I can make it. You could even call this episode a special if you want, because I'll give you some quick snippits into Edward's life as well as some interesting and fluffy situations. I hope you enjoy it, and make sure you review.

Here we go, the rugrats High School never ends special an insight on the rugrats teenage life!

The first eight days of high school had been eventful, to say the least. Each member of the previously crib bound rugrats had found their own output and lifestyle. They were struggling through together. The main event was Lil, who was slowly returning to the group, and as the week drove on she was being with them more and more. It was Wednesday now, and the third lecture was the day's main event.

Phil and Kimi's relationship was back to normal, as it didn't take the two of them long to recover from any event. They favoured the whole burn on big river attitude to life and took it as it came. Since the kiss, they seemed to have come closer. However, the strange thing was what had happened to their relationship. Since the kiss, Phil's feelings for Kimi had grown, but it was the opposite for Kimi, whose crush on Edward was growing with every sarcastic comment he made, which was often. Phil had a secret, but he didn't want to look like a nerd to everyone, so he would keep that to himself. Phil was intensely jealous of Edward, especially of Kimi's attraction to him.

Chuckie had become more involved in chess, and his first tournament was booked for November. It was a free for all, so to speak, of speed chess. He was practicing constantly, playing games with Tommy. Another thing Chuckie had started was playing the bass guitar, though not often because he had no natural talent, but he enjoyed it. His studies were going great and he still had straight A's. His only problem was Kimi's crush on Edward, he couldn't agree with it as much as he tried.

Kimi's life was going well, very well. After a dark first week, things were looking up, all thanks to Edward and he best friend Phil. Phil had been there for her over the holidays no matter what, when her granddad died and when she had got the flu. Edward had stuck up for her and beat down her bully when all others just ignored her, not wanted to get involved with her. She went home after Edward had rescued her played on a keyboard she had bought and hid under the bed every night. She didn't want anyone to know about her piano, she didn't want people to mock her.

Lil was suffering a mini emotional turmoil. She really didn't know what to do, she had no idea. She liked to be popular, and she thought if she dropped out or tried to leave, she would be ridiculed forever in high school. She sat at home singing to herself, deep in thought with the mathematics that Edward had written about. She needed something hard that could distract her; she didn't what to think about anything, except maths. She just needed to get her head out for a bit. She thought that the party on Saturday would take her mind out, so she was looking forward to that.

Tommy had been playing the guitar for over two years now, and the interest had fell now in the group, so he never brought it up. He had started writing songs, and he enjoyed it. He played guitar as often as he could, to music, often with his eyes closed, so the music completely absorbed him. He cherished every moment with his friends and he loved time with Lil. He felt like a cliché, but every he wrote couldn't help but be dedicated to Lil or about her.

Wednesday had come, the third day of the lectures, and it was starting to get cold. Phil, who couldn't stand the smallest degree change in the negative direction, was wearing a scarf. The gang trudged into Chuckie's car and drove to school. IT wasn't very cold, only cold enough to make them put on a coat, but they could definitely feel the winter months closing in on them, and it was only September!

[E]

Edward was sitting at the keyboard that he had brought with him in his hotel room. Fillmore, Ingrid and Edward were representing X high school, as a lot of the other smart kids were on the wrong side. Ingrid was supposed to do the lecture, but she said she had stage fright, allowing her to ditch it. Edward on the other hand wasn't so lucky, when he wanted to drop out, their principle, Principle Folsom, blackmailed him to do it or he would lose all computer access and safety patrol cases.

Edward was busy sitting on his keyboard until Fillmore and Ingrid trudged in. They looked like they were allergic to the cold. Fillmore was wearing a black jacket with gloves and Ingrid was wearing a fluffy jacket. They looked like they wanted to chat about something they found awkward. "What it is?" Edward asked, playing that last chord of a song he knew.

"Hi Edward," Ingrid said. "We were just wondering, what's going on with Kimi?"

"Who is Kimi?" Edward lied.

"Don't lie to us, Edward," Fillmore said, shaking his head. "The girl you keep glancing at in your lectures, the girl you were being nice to on the first day you were here. You aren't nice to anyone, unless you want something. You only met her then!"

"I don't know what your talking about," Edward said, turning his keyboard back on. Just before Fillmore and Ingrid continued their rant, he raised his hand to silence them. "Even if there was going on, it wouldn't be any of your business."

Ingrid laughed. "Since when have you cared about other people's business."

Edward started to play the piano loudly with a song he just learnt, and started singing over her. "Like a bat out of hell, I'll be gone when the morning's gone," he said.

"That's really mature," Fillmore frowned as Edward played over him, interrupting everything he said. Fillmore shook his head. "Fine then, if that's how your going to be. Come on Ingrid." He said, leaving the room, Ingrid followed.

Edward played the last chord of the chorus of the song and stopped. He looked out of the window. "What a dismal day," he said, putting another top on, long sleeve and grey, and grabbed his cane from beside his bed. Edward stood up, picked up a packet or painkillers and took two, kicked an empty cider bottle under the bed and opened his door, locking his door behind him and putting on a hat.

[K]

"It's so cold," Phil said, pulling his jacket closer to his chest and shivering. It was only ten degrees Celsius, hardly cold, but for Phil it was like being left in an ice room for several days. "I'm sick of this!"

Kimi laughed, Phil's manliness staggering her. "Man up, dude," she said. They were in Chuckie's car, which was far too old and far too damaged and broken to have any heating whatsoever. "Two more days until the weekend," she said, counting down. She was getting very sick of most aspects of school very quickly.

"You getting the new call of duty, Chuckie?" Tommy asked.

Chuckie shook his head. "Kimi is, I'm more of a halo guy," he replied.

Tommy turned and Kimi winked at him. "Nothing cooler than a COD playing girl," she joked.

"I bet the trolls love you," Phil teased, he always mentioned trolls to Kimi because she had no idea what they were. He would never tell her, because he loved how annoyed she got.

Kimi looked out of the window. "The cold reminds me of when we went to the mountains," she said, remembering back to that time when they were ten. "That time Tommy ditched us for that girl," she said, scowling at him.

"Olivia," Tommy said, remembering that time. That had been a good set of days, really good days.

"Wait a second," Phil teased. "Wasn't that the day you had your first kiss but ruined our game of king of the mountain."

"That's to one," Chuckie said, before Tommy. "He ditched me as well, I almost died Tommy, stuck up on the mountain!"

"Why do you lot keep bringing this up," Tommy said as the lot of them laughed. "I said I was sorry, over a hundred times, it has been five years, let it go!" Kimi smiled, that was the day that she discovered that she could be a girly girl if given the chance. She sometimes marvelled at how great their lives had been, and how the lot of them loved to go into memories together, all except Phil, who liked to live in the moment.

Just as Kimi had suspected, Phil was sitting there looking annoyed. "Not this again," he moaned as the silence dawned of them remembering past endeavours. "Why do you all keep doing this."

"Well excuse me for enjoying my life!" Kimi replied.

"What ever!" he replied. "come on Chuckie, drive faster. I am turning into ice! I can feel it!"

[K-later]

Dil, Phil, Kimi, Chuckie and Tommy trudged into the lecture theatre, Phil rubbing his arms over his shoulders trying to warm himself up as Kimi laughed at him. "You have no soul, do you?" he complained as she laughed at him. Kimi saw Lil and called to the rest of them.

They sat down, Edward was already there writing a title on the board. Kimi saw Dil frown and she looked on the board and realised why. Edward had written on the board: "Einstein's cosmic speed limit and why Aliens can't have arrived." Kimi looked over to Tommy who made a: "Don't talk about it" look.

The lecture went on and as it went on, oddly enough, Dil's face seemed to get a little happier as the day went through, which was strange, because Kimi understood a bit of this and the dates that Edward said showed how long it would take to get here and an equation that showed the probability of something coming here, it was something like the Drake equation.

After the lecture Tommy leaned over to Dil. "Dil… about the lecture."

"I know what you are going to say," Dil said to Tommy. "If anything, it shows they are real. As if aliens can't go against human laws."

Kimi smiled, it was nice to see someone believing something as wholeheartedly as Dil did, and it was also a very rare sight. Kimi stepped out of the class and wave bye to her friends who were in different rooms. As she was just about to head down the empty fields she saw Edward.

"Hi Edward," she said, smiling.

Edward turned around to see her. "Hello Kimi," he replied, stopping and walking up to her. "How have you been?"

"Good," she said. "Very good, what about you?"

"Pretty good," he said. "Listen, do you want to go out on the bike after school, get a bite to eat?"

It felt like time had stopped for a moment. Kimi, who oddly was more embarrassed than Edward who didn't seem to show any response whatsoever, had just been asked on a date by Edward. This was so strange. "Sure," she stuttered after a moment.

Edward laughed. "Alright then," he said. "Listen, I have to go, got to go and speak to some of the maths teachers under order of my principle. I'll meet you by the entrance, ok."

"Alright," she smiled. "See you later Edward," she said.

"Bye Kimi," Edward said, limping off toward the map. Kimi leaned against the locker, a little shocked and a little happy.

[P]

Phil and Tommy were sitting in the computer lab, doing homework that they had forgotten and was due in after lunch. "I can't believe we have to do this," Phil complained. The only lesson that Phil and Tommy had together was mathematics and they had forgotten about their homework when they were playing basketball at the park.

"It's our own fault, Phil," Tommy said, typing up some of the work and writing in an equation. "Besides, we need maths."

Phil knew he needed maths if he was ever going to be doctor, but he didn't like people to call him a nerd, he didn't want his life at high school to get worse. Lessons alone were bad enough; he didn't want to get beaten up at break. Tommy looked over and Phil was on games.

"I'm waiting for you, dude," he said, smiling.

"Thanks man," Tommy said. "Since when were you good at maths?" he laughed.

"Never, this homework was just what someone else said, just copied," he lied and laughed. Phil wasn't one to keep secrets; there were only three he had. The first was his feelings for Kimi, the second was his brains and the third was his own, and even though it wasn't bad, but he didn't want it to go around school, not yet.

"So, what do you think about this party on Saturday?" Tommy asked.

"I'm looking forward to it," Phil said, it was true.

"Is there," Tommy said. "You know, booze."

"I think so," Phil laughed. He had only ever got drunk once, with Kimi, nothing had happened, they were just friends. At that point he didn't really want them to. He knew though, for a fact, that Tommy had never had alcohol.

"Have you ever had alcohol, Phil," Tommy asked. Great, Phil thought, that was the question, perfect. He didn't know what to say. In fact, he thought, I have to, in case Kimi says and then I look even worse.

"Phil?" Tommy repeated. "You're zoning about, buddy."

"Sorry dude," Phil recovered and turned to Tommy. "Yeah," he told him, "once."

Tommy looked up. "What happened?" he asked.

Phil told him.

_The story of what happened was a difficult one. Phil's mom, Betty, loved lager. She wasn't an alcoholic or anything, but she loved the stuff. In Phil's garage there were crates of it. Phil and Kimi were on their way out, one day, and they went through__ the garage, Phil was showing Kimi his new bike. Kimi went in and opened on of the crates, she wasn't worried about anyone hearing as Lil was out and Phil's parents were at Karate lessons (Betty's idea). _

_Kimi turned after seeing the alcohol with a crazy look in her eye. "What are you thinking?" Phil asked, pulling his backpack back up onto his shoulders._

_Kimi turned to the alcohol and pulled one out. Phil stopped dead. "You can't be thinking of stealing my moms alcohol!" he gasped._

"_There's loads here Phil," Kimi said, with a strange look in her eye and a smile on her face. "She wouldn't notice. We could take a few and go down by the river. It's summer, it's warm, we're starting high school soon."_

_Phil bit his bottom lip in thought and looked down. After a minute he looked up and smirked. "Go on then," he said, tossing her his backpack. "Five each alright, at most!" he laughed. He couldn't believe that Kimi had convinced him to do it. _

_It was warm, the sun was beaming down on their faces as they lay on their backs, staring up at the sky, peacefully mellow. It was a good day, a very good day._

Tommy nodded his head. "Really?" he asked and Phil nodded. "Listen dude, I don't like keeping secrets from him, but you really can't tell Chuckie about this, he will freak."

"I'm not planning on it," Phil said, signing off the computer and standing up. "You ready yet?" he asked, making for the door.

Tommy nodded and stood, tuning his computer off at the plug and following Phil. Phil started thinking about careers again, he really wanted to be doctor, he had for a while. It's odd, he had once said: "Never pursue a career where you have to wash your hands". He did think that, until he realised what a difference he could make, and it inspired him. The idea was now a dream, a dream that he would make a reality.

Phil, who used to not care about washing, now washed twice a day. He had been since the last year of middle school. Everyone had noticed and preferred it.

[T]

Tommy was a little confused; he didn't know where his life was going. He still wanted to be a director, but he didn't know what he had to do to accomplish it. Tommy pulled the screwdriver out and spun it around on his finger. He had been filming his friends for a while, to make a video about their high school life.

Tommy was moving around his mobile phone and filming the gang eating dinner. Tommy's phone had a state of the art video camera that was high quality, and it was very expensive. "Look up, guys," Tommy said.

The gang looked up to see Tommy holding the camera. Kimi tried to cover her face, "Tommy!" she complained and hid under the table. Phil grabbed Chuckie's shoulder and pulled him next to him and stuck his tongue out with a peace sign. Dil, who was sitting with them, pulled his strange hat down slightly and did a gangster sign.

"Me and my boyfriend, Chuckie!" Phil said, pretending to lean in and kiss him.

"Phil," Chuckie said, "get off me." Phil chuckled and let go.

Tommy laughed. "Say hello to us in the future!" Tommy said.

"Hi, us in the future," they chorused in response.

Tommy laughed. The future, as a word, took him back to the past, of summers that came and went. His memory went back to when they had rode across the south with the ostriches, when Chuckie played the harmonica. He never wanted childhood to end, but it was, and it would soon. Sometimes this got him down, but other times he realised, you have got to grow up sometimes. When you hit ten, you think you are all grown up, but actually you have just dipped your toe in the pool of life. Wait, did he really just think that. When did he suddenly become philosophical?

"So, Kimi, do you want a lift tonight?" Chuckie asked.

Kimi shook her head. "Nope," she said. "That reminds me, can you tell mum and dad that I won't be back until about eight."

"Ok," Chuckie said, then stopped. "Wait, who are you going with?"

"Edward," she said, finishing off her desert.

"Edward!" Chuckie repeated in his usual high pitched shocked voice.

"Yeah," she replied. "He's taking me on the bike to get something to eat."

"You're going on the motorbike."

"Can you stop doing that!" she shouted, standing up. "I don't have time for this Chuckie. I'm going to class, see you later guys."

"See you Kimi."

Tommy sighed, knowing now that there would be some form of rant from Chuckie about something, so he put a headphone in one of his ears and turned it up.

[P]

Phil was on his way to his next class with his head in a conundrum. Did what Kimi say mean that she was going on a date. He certainly hoped not. To be honest, like Chuckie, he was sick of Edward already. He wouldn't admit it, but he was insanely jealous. Now what was he going to do tonight? I'll go out with Tommy and Chuckie then. He liked the sound of that.

The final lesson of the day was blissfully ignored by Phil, he didn't have time for geography though, it didn't fit into his life plan so he was content with ignoring the little, irritating teacher who drove his blood to a boil. Phil reached into his pocket and swiftly sent a message to Tommy. "Dude, you wanna hang out after school?"

A few minutes later Tommy replied: "Yeah sure. You wanna come over to mine? Chuckie is coming as well, he has to finish some homework =[."

"Fun, but anyway yeah I'll see you then," Phil replied and put his phone back in his pocket. Phil started concentrating on the clock above the teachers head. Then he realised, Edward will be gone next Friday, so that's only ten days. This cheered him up and he lay down on the table.

Phil's phone vibrated. He leaned forward and checked what it said. It was from Kimi. "Hey Phil, how's geography?"

"Crap, how's maths?"

"Probably worse than geography!" she replied.

The bell and the teacher read out some homework which Phil had already decided what his excuse would be for not doing it. Great, he thought, now I have to watch Kimi and Edward, so he made it a deal to avoid Edward's bike after school today. "Hi Phil," Chuckie said, who had met him in the hall.

"Sup Chuck," he said.

"How was geography?" Chuckie asked. Phil had just noticed how everybody seemed only to care about what classes were like.

"Not so great," Phil said. "So, Kimi and Edward tonight."

"I know," Chuckie stuttered in his usual manner. "It's been bugging me all afternoon, I mean, what does she seem in him?"

"I'm pretty sure it's the bike, brain and cane," Phil replied, and smiled when he liked the rhyme. "Or something like that." Phil gestured to the door and Chuckie followed him.

"She always goes for that whole bad boy thing," he said. "But I'd prefer it if she would go for a guy without a piece of machinery that goes over a hundred miles an hour!"

Phil chuckled. He to was worried about Kimi. "Anyway," he said, diverting the conversation. "Can I have another lift?"

"Sure," Chuckie said, pushing the back door of the school open and trudging out to his car, which he had started parking a bit away from the main car park. "You don't need to ask any more, just get in the car."

[K]

Kimi and her friend Hannah were walking down the hall; they had just had maths and were not pleased about. "I'm just saying," Kimi joked. "If Mr. Jones is a teacher surely he should know are names by now."

"Yeah," Hannah replied. "There was a math teacher like that at my school." Hannah paused. "Oh yeah," she said, pushing a hair strand out of her face. "I heard you have a date with Edward Johnson from X."

"It's not a date," Kimi said, scoffing. "He's just taking me out."

"On the bike?" she asked.

"Yeah…" Kimi muttered, raising an eyebrow, waiting for some sort of response.

"It's a date."

Kimi pushed through the crowd to the front room after her and Hannah saying that she would see her tomorrow and a good luck on the date, which caused Kimi to shake her head in irritation. She looked around and saw Edward leaning on his bike, flicking through and Ipod and putting some notepads in his backpack. She saw a second helmet next to his, on the floor.

Edward looked up. "You alright?" he said.

"Hey," Kimi said, a little embarrassed. She looked at the helmet. "Did you by another helmet?"

"Yep," Edward said, picking it up and throwing it to her. "So, you wanna go then?"

Kimi smiled and nodded. Edward got on the bike and patted the seat behind him. She got on, though with worry, she had never been on a bike. "Never been on a motor bike, ey," he said, putting his helmet on.

She got on and Edward revved the bike and Kimi grabbed onto the back. The minute she did this, Edward grabbed her arms and wrapped them around her waste. She snickered as he biked off and she laughed at the feeling. Motorbikes were amazing.

[P]

Phil, Tommy and Chuckie were sitting in Chuckie's house. Phil was propped up on Chuckie's bed flicking through one of Chuckie's magazines when he saw something. "I have an idea," he said, smiling evilly and looking at the two of them.

Chuckie and Tommy paused their game. "What is it, Phil?" Tommy asked and Phil threw the magazine down on the floor. Tommy picked it up. "New oral hygiene formula?"

"No," Phil sighed. "The other page."

Phil watched as Chuckie and Tommy read through the page. Chuckie finished it much quicker. "You want to play poker?" Chuckie asked.

Phil nodded. "I have twenty dollars in my pocket, you got any change Chuckie?"

"Wait, you really want to do this?" Tommy said and when he saw Phil nod, he smiled He pulled two ten dollar bills out of his pocket. "Fine then, I'm in. Chuckie, crack out those poker pieces you have."

"Are you sure about this guys?" Chuckie asked, as he rooted around under his bed. "You know this could lead to addiction!"

"Yeah, yeah whatever Chuckie," Phil said. "Get them out, lets have a game."

The cards were dealt out and the chips were laid out with the money in a box. Chuckie had played poker before, and him, Tommy and Phil were pretty good, though Phil was especially excellent, so it was going to be a challenge for Tommy and Chuckie to beat him.

After dealing out and playing through a few games it was obvious that Phil was better, already up by a dollar. Everyone was playing it safe, to make the game work well. It was impossible to tell when Phil was bluffing, so he could do it whenever he wanted.

[K]

Kimi and Edward were biking out to the next town, only a few miles away. "McDonalds?" Edward said into the microphone.

"Sure," Kimi said. She was enticed by the world flying past her, going on a motorbike was, without a doubt was the best thing that she had ever done. They raced into the parking lot and Edward jumped off, pulling his cane from it's lock and landing on one leg.

"So what do you want, Kimi?" Edward asked, reaching into his wallet and grabbing some tens.

"It's alright, Edward, I'll pay," Kimi replied, but Edward shook his head in defiance. "Fine then," she giggled. "Just a cheeseburger and a chocolate milkshake, please."

"Coming right up," Edward said, heading for the counter and leaving his helmet on the table that Kimi had sat at. The date was going well, really well. Kimi enjoyed spending time with Edward and had the same attraction to him as she had to Z, Phil and Tommy. Though, to be honest, there was no real connection between the three of them.

Edward sat down with the food a few minutes later and they chatted about seemingly random things for a while. Then Edward turned around. "Hey, Kimi," he said. "Do you want to hear something interesting.

"Shoot."

"See that girl at the counter," he pointed over his head with his thumb. "She is having an affair." The woman was around twenty five and blonde.

Kimi frowned. "How on earth do you know that?"

"See her finger, her ring finger?"

Kimi looked over Edward's head. The woman was too far away for Kimi to see. "What about it?"

"The ring, it's dirty," Edward said. "Since it's still there, she isn't divorced, she wouldn't have the money. You are allowed to wear rings at Mcdonalds because one of the other counter ladies has one on. Also, all of her other jewellery is completely clean, which means she doesn't care about it much."

"You figured all of that out from a ring?" Kimi gasped.

"Yeah," he replied. "It's one of my favourite things to do." He paused. "So, how are you enjoying my lectures?"

Just as Kimi was about to reply she heard her phone in her and took it out. Suprisingly it was already six. The text read:

"Hi Kimi, do you wanna come back and play poker with me, Phil and Tommy? –Chuckie"

"Is it from your brother?" Edward asked.

"How did you know," Kimi gasped.

"Practice," he said and winked. "What does he want?"

"Poker with the guys from school," she said. "Do you want to come?"

Edward nodded. "Sounds good," he said, finishing off his burger and leaving the rubbish where it was. Kimi had already finished, she was a fast eater.

[P]

"Edward and Kimi are coming," Chuckie said, reading from his phone.

"Edward?" Phil repeated and smirked. This was it, his time to get a one up on Edward for Kimi. "Does he know about the twenty dollar ante?"

"Oh yeah," Chuckie said, sending another text. "There we go, they say they will be in half an hour. Shall we stop until then?"

"Sounds good," Tommy said, laying his cards down and shuffling the deck. "Want some games on the play station?"

"I'll pass," Chuckie said. "Got some chess games to catch up on."

"Bring it on then, Tommy," Phil said, rolling off his chair and grabbing the player one handsets.

"Set it up Phil," Tommy said to him. "I'll make two more positions for Kimi and Edward."

Phil put one of the headsets in and started shouting down the microphone at some Texas players. "You want a piece of this then?" he shouted. Phil loved shouting at people over the internet. "I will shove your controller so far up your butt you'll feel it in your throat!"

"Come on Phil," Tommy said, interrupting Phil's fun.

[P-Later]

"Hi guys," Kimi said, causing Phil and the rest to turn to them. Kimi and Edward were standing at the door. Seeing this, Phil's stomach tightened as he turned the game up and grabbed at the cards. "You all know Edward."

Edward raised his eyebrow. "Hi Edward," Tommy said, in his usual manner. He got up and sat at his seat at the table. "I'm Tommy Pickles, pleased to meet you."

"Charmed, I'm sure," Edward said, in an obviously sarcastic manner. He went to a seat and reached into his pocket. "Twenty dollars, right?"

"That's the one," Chuckie said, as Kimi put down her money.

"Let's play some poker," Phil said, shuffling the deck. Phil passed everyone five cards and looked at his. Everyone knew the rules of poker because they played at least one game a month, sometimes as much as four if they were really bored or had a lot of money to give away, usually to Phil.

Phil looked up. Damn, he thought. His cards were not great, he had a pair of threes. He would have to bluff. He turned and saw Edward laying his cards down, but he wasn't folding.

"So Phil," Edward said. "You're not looking so good."

"Oh, really?" Phil said, putting his cards down as well.

"Do you have a pair?" Edward asked but Phil ignored him. "It doesn't matter, you won't beat my hand."

Phil bit his bottom lip as he put money in. Everyone bet, but then Edward put ten dollars into the middle. Phil looked at him as everyone else folded. Is he bluffing? Phil thought. Screw it. "I fold," Phil said.

Edward laughed and put his cards down on the table. He didn't have any pairs at all. "You would have won with your pair of threes," Edward said.

The night wore on and, truth be told, it was really a battle between Edward and Phil, with Edward coming out on top most of the time. Over an hour later, Edward had won all of the money. "Sorry guys," he said, pocketing their twenties. "That's how the game works. I have to go now, see you later."

"I'll see you out," Kimi said.

[K]

Kimi led Edward down to the door and he stepped outside. Edward laughed and pulled out forty dollars. "Here," he said, handing it to her. "I don't need it anyway."

"Thanks Edward," Kimi said.

"It's been a good night," Edward said, turning. "Catch you later."

"Wait," Kimi said, catching him. As he turned, she kissed him, quickly. "See you tomorrow, Edward."

End of Chapter 8

Thanks for reading, don't forget to review.


	9. Chapter 9: Get Happy, Teens!

Callout: Message to Andoras and Jose R, thanks for reading and commenting on the story every step of the way, and thank you all those who are still reading, I aim to please ^^. All my other readers: bj, monkeylover, soulman and the rest, feel free to review again, I would like to know you are still reading.

Chapter 9: Get Happy, Teens

[E]

Friday morning (6.00am)

Edward was busy sitting on his floor surrounded by whiteboards and mathematical equation, trying desperately to avoid the pain in his leg and his thoughts about a certain Asian girl he had just met. What the hell is wrong with me? He kept thinking, I have only just met this girl, but I can't stop thinking about her, so irrational and stupid.

Edward heard a knock on the door. "Edward," Fillmore called. "Can I come in? And you had better not be watching porn."

"I am," Edward lied, hoping Fillmore would go away. "Don't come in!"

Fillmore, obviously realising that he was lying, pushed the door open and tripped on one of the fifteen whiteboards scrawled across the floor. Fillmore looked around, "Someone is trying to avoid thinking about a certain someone."

"Too many someone's," Edward said. "You have confused me; I'll chime in when you start to make sense." Edward obviously knew exactly what Fillmore was referring to, but he was not in the mood with dealing with Fillmore being, well… Fillmore.

"I've never seen you like this," Fillmore said. "I know what it's like, Edward, you meet someone and realise you like them and it drives you insane, but you are only here for 12 days, hardly time for a relationship."

"Don't you think I know that?" Edward snapped angrily, swallowing a painkiller and glaring over at Fillmore. Ingrid peeped her head around the door, hearing Edward.

"Problem?" she asked.

"No," Edward said, not taking his eyes off of Fillmore. "Nothing is wrong, Ingrid." There had been chemistry between Edward and Ingrid in the past, but now they were just best friends. The three of them, Ingrid, Fillmore and Edward had been best friends for just over a year now, and their similarities, their genius, had brought them and sealed them together.

"Yeah," Ingrid muttered sarcastically, shutting the door behind her. "Is this about Kimi Finster?"

Fillmore nodded to her. "There is nothing wrong," Edward repeated.

"Is this some sort of plan," Ingrid suggested. "Is this one of your usual things?"

Edward shook his head, and returned to writing on his whiteboard. "It is my last lecture of the week, can you go away? I need to concentrate!"

Ingrid laughed. "No you don't," she remarked. "Even Fillmore can do this, it is only first year stuff, nothing hard."

"I am right here you know," Fillmore chuckled.

"Yeah, yeah," Edward said, raising his hand and directing them to the door. "I won't get in the way of you love birds, go away."

[T]

"Every birthday, my mom and dad would say," Tommy said, whilst strumming several chords on his new, blue guitar. He was writing a song for himself, as, along with film making, it was his passion.

"Tommy," Didi shouted up the stairs, "Breakfast!"

Tommy went downstairs and ate his cereal with Dil, who was looking strange. Well, Tommy thought, stranger than usual.

The drive to school was uneventful, with Kimi and Phil listening to something on Kimi's Ipod in the back and Chuckie humming to himself. Tommy looked back and saw Kimi laughing with Phil. He was sure nothing was going on there, and Edward and Kimi were pretty much together and he didn't mind. Kimi and Tommy were together for a while, they were very close.

Should he feel weird? They had gone out for a long time. Damn it, he didn't know. His interests were falling toward the Lil and he doubted Phil would take that well, so he had to give Phil this one, he would have to even if he did still feel something for Kimi. Tommy was leaning with his face against the window.

"Chuckie, are we giving a lift to Lil again?" he asked.

Chuckie looked across. "Yeah," he said. "Kimi is going home with Edward again," he looked back and glared at Kimi.

"Problem?" she said, raising her eyebrow.

Chuckie shook his head. "So it's Phil, Lil, Dil and you."

"Oh yeah, speaking of that Tommy," Phil said, passing Kimi his iPod. "Isn't Lil coming over to yours tonight? She doesn't speak to me much, but she kind of mentioned it before her new boyfriend," Phil sort of grunted when he said this, "picked her up."

"Oh," Tommy said, feeling jealously spilling down his spine. "Yeah she is, science project."

"I take it you're trying to get her back to our group," Dil commented.

Tommy laughed. "Yeah," he said. "Since when did you become an Edward? Oh, I forgot, you're a genius as well."

Tommy was a little shocked about his brother's intellect sometimes. He didn't know when it happened, he was normal before. Not his mannerisms, but his brain. Oh well, he thought, yet another one of my friends who is smarter than me. Am I the dumbest in the group?

[T-later]

It was the last lesson before lunch and a science lesson, which Tommy particularly enjoyed because, of course, he got to sit by Lil. Lil had changed her hair again, a single blonde highlight running down her curly hair near her face. She has always had this strand different, but she changed its colour every month, or so it seemed.

"Two weeks time, folks," their teacher announced, writing it on the board, along with a few chemicals for the next class. "Two weeks until projects are due in. These had better be good, folks. The result goes on your permanent record, which you had better start thinking about now!"

Lil closed her notebook. "Is tonight still on, Tommy?" Lil asked, putting her book in her bag and looking over.

Tommy, trying to be as cool as possible, leaned his elbow on the table. "Yeah," he said. This would have been very cool, until he slipped and almost smashed his face on the table.

"Smooth," Lil cooed, picking up one of the books he dropped. "I'll be there at six, instead of five, is that alright?"

"Perfect," he said.

"Is that your camera?" she asked, seeing his open bag. That reminded him, Tommy had brought in his camera again, to make a video about high school. "Making a video about high school?"

He nodded. "Yeah," he said, standing up. "Want to be in it?"

Lil smiled. "I will Tommy," she said, "but not today, I'm in a rush." She made for the door. "Catch you later."

Tommy waved slowly, a small movement. He was such a dork, he was completely below Lil on both the social scale and style. It was like a rock talking to a pearl. Maybe this kind of shit works in films, he thought, but I'm no fool, this is not going to happen in real life.

He was busy thinking about song lyrics as well, thousands of them, they all seemed to apply. Was he in love? He didn't know. Lil had his head spinning, he didn't know what to do. Too many lyrics:

"It's just you and me, and all other people and I don't know why I can't keep my eyes off of you!"

"Am I just that guy, the one who's happy with my friends and five drinks and I'm in love again!"

This is so annoying.

[C]

It was lunch, and once again Tommy was filming his friends. Chuckie was playing chess on his little computer, trying to drown out the sound of Kimi and Edward talking. "This is Edward," Tommy said, aiming the camera at Edward's face. "Kimi's boyfriend." He finished with a childish voice,

"Shut up Tommy!" Kimi glared, yet Edward merely chuckled.

Chuckie swore he heard Phil mutter, "Yeah Tommy, shut up," but he could have been mistaken.

"Chuckie," Kimi said, almost flabbergasted. "You're being antisocial, talk to us."

"No I'm not," Chuckie said, and then paused. "Ok, maybe I am, but I have a competition." Chuckie stopped. This was his chance, his chance to show Kimi how good he was, to be a big brother for a change. "Edward, do you play."

"A little," he said. "Do you want a game?" he asked, looking back and forward between Chuckie and Kimi. Chuckie could swear that he was plotting something.

"Go on then," Chuckie said, and set up the board.

Most of their moves were dull, planned and co-ordinated. Chuckie was taking the lead when he noticed something strange, Edward was swapping off with no reason, and he was losing. Edward was a genius, he could plan easily. There is no way he could make that mistake. However, it was when Chuckie took Edward's queen he spoke up.

"You're letting me win," he announced.

"What?" Edward said, playing dumb.

"You're letting me win so you can get extra attention of Kimi, maybe tell her and get her to like you more," he shook his head. "Play me properly!" he demanded.

"Impressive," Edward said. "Do you really want to play me properly?"

Chuckie nodded. Edward set the pieces up and they played again. The rest of the gang remained silent, quite interested in the game. After twenty moves (Chuckie had counted), Edward looked up. "Want me to tell you why you just lost?"

Chuckie frowned. "Alright then," Edward finished and made his move. Just as Edward had predicted, in ten moves Edward had won. "Ouch," he conclude. "That is mate, sir. Wow, I hate chess."

Chuckie put his board away in irritation. "I've got to go," Edward said, picking up his bag and slinging it over his shoulder. "see you all later."

Chuckie looked up. Tommy, the good soul that he was, had captured the entire game on film. Chuckie knew Tommy would torment him on it later. "You just got your ass handed to you, dude," Dil said.

"Fine," Chuckie said, looking down. He stopped, looked up. "It doesn't matter; I'll just have to keep practicing!"

Phil chortled. "Good luck with that," he said. He turned to Kimi. "That guy is unbeatable, at everything!" He shook his head. "Anyway, who's looking forward to tomorrow?"

Kimi nodded. "I haven't tried convincing Edward to go yet, but I'll definitely be there, no matter what!" she replied.

"Do I have to?" Chuckie almost pleaded, looking to Tommy. Chuckie didn't really like parties, they weren't his thing. He preferred reading to himself, he was such a nerd, but he liked his little self contained world, this was where he was happy. That and with his friends.

"Yes you do," Tommy laughed. "So we're all there then."

"Yep," they chorused in response.

"Lil's still going, right?" Tommy asked.

"She is," Phil replied. "With this Brad guy, no doubt you'll hear about him tonight."

"Yeah," Tommy replied.

[L]

"Did you hear?" Angelica gossiped to the group surrounding her. "Savannah is getting with Jack."

"Really?" Tracy said, in a high voice which suited the crowd. "What do you think, Lil?"

Lil looked up, she really wasn't thinking about such trivial things. She was trying to look to her old friends table without them noticing. "Yeah," she said, thinking it would be enough. Thankfully, it was.

"Lil," Angelica said, in a gossip voice. "Isn't Kimi Finster with Edward Johnson?"

"Edward Johnson?" Tracy mimicked. "The one with the bike and the stubble. The sort of nerd that no one can really work out?"

Angelica nodded. Lil looked up. "Yeah," Lil replied. "She is."

Lil was troubled. She enjoyed being popular, it gave her some sort of strange fulfilment. Before this year started, she never gave it any thought. She didn't turn back during the summer and the last months of middle school. What was wrong with her, why did she miss them all so much. Maybe it was because she had grown up with them. Maybe it was because the more she fought her feelings for Tommy, the stronger they came back.

"You're totally spacing out, Lil," Angelica said, looking over.

"Yeah," Tracy agreed. "Are you ill, you don't wanna miss tomorrow's party, no one is!"

"Isn't your brother and the Dweebs coming?" Angelica asked.

Tracy nodded. At this point Lil had put her headphones on, she wasn't in the mood to think. At least, not at the moment. Tonight, at six, she would be round Tommy's and restore a little normality to her life.

[T]

Tommy was busy at home preparing for Lil. He felt like a fool showering and spraying his whole body with deodorant. When Lil arrived he had to change shirts due to a stain. I hate this, he thought, but it's fantastic at the same time. Lil had brought several notebooks with her and, he had to give his parents props, they had taken Dil out, so they were home alone.

"Tommy, are you going to help with this?" Lil joked, making some notes and drawing a chemical.

Tommy nodded. He got up and stood next to her, she was sat down on the desk. He picked up the brief and read through it. "You know," he mused. "I don't remember you being a book work."

Lil laughed. "I'm not," she replied. "I just want to do well, I suppose. Unlike my brother."

Tommy sat down on his bed and shifted uncomfortably. Is it hot in here? He thought. "Two weeks gone," he said. She looked over. "Two weeks gone of school."

"Oh," she giggled. "Yeah, I'm not enjoying it either."

"I thought you did," Tommy frowned. "With all of your new friends."

Tommy heard Lil make some sort of hum noise, but he had no idea what it meant. "It's good to be back," she said.

"What?"

"It's just nice to be with you again," she explained. "It's been weird without the group."

Tommy smiled. Finally he was getting somewhere with her. "Right then," he said, grabbing a chair and pulling it next to her. "On to the God awful Chemistry!"

[E]

Edward was lying on his back, thinking about his life at the moment. He couldn't believe his luck. It was warm at the moment, and he was appreciating it. To do this, he was lying on his back.

"Edward?" he heard Kimi call out.

"Over hear!" he said, waving his hand up.

"Oh," she laughed. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah," he said. "My leg hurt, so I had to sat down. I thought, who would I like to be stuck with."

Kimi laughed and sat by him. "Are you coming with me to the party tomorrow."

"One thought at a time," he said.


	10. Intermission

Intermission

Message from TendtoInfinity

Hello, my faithful readers. Some of you might be pretty annoyed about this, but I doubt it (my story isn't great). However, I just wanted to run through some things for my story. To me, it's important, so can you review with your thoughts.

I have enjoyed writing this story a lot. It has been an enjoyable experience. The reason I wrote this is the reason you go on fanfiction, you want to hear more about your beloved characters, am I right? Anyway, I tried to develop the characters slowly, advancing the plot at different points and getting perspectives right. I hope I have done a good job and I would like to hear your thoughts on that.

I hope you are enjoying the, *ahem, romance in this story. The EdwardxKimixPhil interests me the most, I know that sounds weird. I recommend you read my other fanfic "The Tales of X High School" if you want to hear more about him. However, I, myself prefer the TommyxLil, what is your opinion on that?

The real reason for this is to announce that the story is nearly over. Only a week remains until the story ends. Aww, if your enjoying it and want me to write a sequel, then let me know. Whether or not it will be happy or sad ending, I don't know. Let me know your thoughts though.

Anyway, thanks for reading. And a special thanks goes out to the following:

Monkey-Lover-25

BJ88

acosta perez jose ramiro

Babewidbrains

Andoras

Soulman3

Floating Softballs

I would like to hear the aboves comments, and any members who are reading but not reviewing, please review.

Sorry for not updating properly, I just wanted to write this to say thank you to my fans.

-TendtoInfinity ^^


	11. Chapter 10: I Partied too Harded

Authors note:

Thanks for all of the comments on the intermission. Most of you want a sequel, but I'm not going to say whether or not I will do one yet. It depends how this one ends, I suppose. Will Tommy and Lil get together and will Kimi choose Phil over Edward. Wait and see ^^. Special thanks to:

Andoras

Tasha123

Soulman3

BJ88

Acosta Perez Jose Ramiro

Lillian1

Floating Softballs

I would love to hear your thoughts through every chapter, so can you continue to review? Thank you.

Wow, this chapter is long overdue and I do apologise, we just had mock exams over and over again. However, I will try to update and I really want to finish this. Speaking of finishing, I just finished my other story "The Tales of X High School", which I'd like you to read. Also, can everyone who reviewed on the intermission review on this chapter.

Now, on to the chapter.

Don't forget, names of people above, review! ^^

Chapter 10: I Partied to Harded!

Phil was in the shower, waiting for some form of inspiration. He had just woken up and it was early, seven am. He just could not sleep, so he decided to get up and wash, take his mind of tonight. Tonight was the party that he was looking forward to trying to get over Kimi, or at least take his mind of her and the thought of her with Edward. Phil's mom, Betty and his father Howard were away on a training course for the weekend, so Phil and Lil were home alone.

Phil heard a knock on the door. "Phil," Lil called. "Is that you?" Phil frowned, Lil didn't interrupt him when he was in the shower, and Phil didn't do it to Lil either. However, he knew why she was asking, Phil never had a wash on Saturday morning, but he needed to look and smell good, tonight of all nights.

"Yes," Phil shouted. "What is it?"

"Nothing, just checking," she said. "Do you want pancakes?" she asked. "I have a craving."

"Really?" he called back. "Yeah I would love some, thanks Lil!"

Phil heard Lil trot down the stairs as he turned to shower off. This is weird, he thought. Lil hasn't made me pancakes in a long time. She must be in a really good mode, a really, really good mood.

Twenty minutes later, when Phil had got out, he found Lil eating at the table. What is the problem with her? Then Phil realised. He peaked his head around the kitchen table and grabbed a plate. "So, how did your date with Tommy go?" he joked.

Lil laughed. "I wasn't on a date," she said. "Besides, I have a boyfriend."

"Oh yeah," Phil said, mockingly.

After this remark Phil and Lil ate silently for a minute or two. They both ate a lot, and their figure was surprising, they were both skinny, and Phil sometimes did weight training which made him toned. "Thanks for breakfast, sis," he said, picking up his plate and washing it up in the seat.

"Don't worry about it," she replied. "So," she said, finishing her pancakes as well. "Are you looking forward to tonight?"

"Yeah," he said.

"I'm surprised you're going," she laughed. "Are the rest of the gang going?"

"The gang?" he said, raising his eyebrow. She laughed in response. "Yeah, they are, no I'm not so sure about Kimi and Chuckie."

"Why Kimi," she asked.

Phil clenched his fist so that Lil couldn't see it. "She's only going if Edward goes," he explained. He was a little annoyed with Kimi as well, she had said she was going, but she had texted him last night telling him she may go out with Edward. He almost punched the wall behind him and ended up shouting at people over the microphone.

The two of them settled down in front of the TV. Phil was a little surprised with how much he and Lil were talking today. "What's the plan for today then?" Lil asked, switching the channels. There was never anything on, but they lived in hope.

"I don't know," Phil said. "I suppose I'll just mope around on the computer and maybe go out and see Tommy and Chuckie before the party."

Lil nodded. "I'm going to meet up with Brad today," she explained, it was so casual, like she didn't even notice how much the sound of it infuriated Phil. Phil knew she was not an idiot, she must know and maybe that was why she was doing it. "We're going to the mall, seeing if I can find anything to wear."

Phil murmured under his breath. "I'm sure I'll find something," he said, thinking. He didn't usually care what he looked like.

"I heard something at school yesterday," Lil said, looking over. "Something that might interest you."

"Go on."

"I don't know if you know her," Lil said. "Anyway, you know Nat?"

"Natalie Williams?" Phil repeated. "Yeah, she sits next to me in maths, she's pretty cool. Why do you bring her up?"

Lil laughed. "Actually," she said as if rethinking what she was about to say. "I can't say at the moment, sorry."

Phil frowned. "Goddamn it, sis."

[T]

Chuckie and Tommy were driving through the country, quite early. Both of them were trying to get out of their own head, "Chuckie, have you decided about tonight, then?" Tommy asked, drumming his fingers on the dashboard.

Chuckie sighed. "I don't know why I should go," he explained. "People have been leaving me alone so far which, by the way, I'm pretty sure is because of Kimi and Edward, but give them alcohol and I'll become target number one!"

Tommy sighed. "Don't let them get to you man," Tommy said. "I heard about Edward and that guy harassing your sister. You should go."

"Oh please," Chuckie sighed in response. "You are only saying this because you want to go and you'll feel bad if I don't."

"Maybe," Tommy laughed. "That doesn't really matter though, Chuckie, lets go anyway."

Chuckie and Tommy had just driven back into town when they saw something strange, a sweaty Phil, running. Chuckie slowed down beside him and Tommy leaned over and honked the horn. Phil jumped and pulled his headphones out. Phil walked over and opened the back door. "Thanks, guys," he grumbled.

"What were you doing?" Tommy asked.

"Started jogging," Phil remarked, strapping himself in and turning his player off. "What are you doing driving about."

"He's trying to convince me to go tonight," Chuckie said, starting the car again and driving off.

Phil laughed. "Why wouldn't you go?" he said, smelling his armpits. "Enjoying the smell, guys?"

[K]

"I still don't see why you dragged me here," Edward complained as he got off his bike with Kimi. They hadn't brought a helmet this time, too much to carry. "I can't see why you would want to go."

Kimi laughed, taking Edward's hand. "I don't really see anything wrong with it," she explained. "Besides," she continued, "I promised my friends that I'd come. I'm not one to go back on things."

"I know," Edward said, following her. "Still," he said, grimacing at the music, which was screaming out of the large house. "I don't know how long I can cope with it," he said.

Kimi looked around. "You like to complain, don't you," she said.

"I do," he admitted, shrugging and gripping his cane tightly, eyes shifting around. "It's difficult not to, a lot of things irritate me."

"Do I?" she asked.

Edward shook his head. "You don't."

Kimi smiled, and took her phone out of her pocket. She called Tommy. "Where are you, Tommy?" she asked.

"Me, Phil and Chuckie are on the way," Tommy said.

"Is she there yet?" Kimi heard Phil shout in the background.

"Yeah, I am," Kimi said. Phil sounded excited, Kimi could tell because he spoke really fast when he did. Sometimes it irritated her, but other times she found it cute. Kimi closed her fold-phone and put it in her jeans.

Edward sighed loudly as he and Kimi approached the house. People were already out on the lawn with alcohol in their hands. "Great," Edward remarked, "They stupid enough sober." Edward looked around. "I take it the parents are on holiday."

"Why?"

"Well, with a house like this, they're going to be obsessed with it," he explained, "which means he hasn't told them that he's having it. Moron, there is going to be sick and booze everywhere. I don't envy him."

[C]

Over an hour had gone by now at the party and Chuckie was becoming more and more anxious. Unlike Tommy, he hadn't touched any of the alcohol, but he remained with him at all times. Chuckie gazed around at the people surrounding him. One person he noticed in particular was Angelica.

Angelica, as usual, was surrounded by a group of judgemental, pretentious, cruel, stupid (and over a hundred other derogatory adjectives) people. He did, however, use the term "people" quite loosely in this context. Chuckie knew, deep down, very, very deep down, that there was a kind person in there. He couldn't help be notice her, she was, as she would have to be to be surrounded by so many boys, attractive girl.

Kimi and Edward were sitting down. Kimi was chatting with Hannah, laughing and had a open bottle in her hand. She had her arm around Edward and Edward was looking around the room, probably examining everything to satisfy his boredom. Chuckie knew exactly how he felt. Chuckie found it difficult to get along with people, though it wasn't his fault, he saw it as people found it difficult to get along with him.

"So," Tommy said, "how are you Chuck?"

"Bored," Chuckie remarked.

"Quit being a stick in the mud," Tommy said, offering him some of the cider in his hand.

"No thanks," Chuckie refused, pushing it away. Chuckie frowned and pointed. "Look," he said, gesturing toward Lil. Lil and her new boyfriend, Chuckie assumed, Brad were making out on the couch.

"Oh," Tommy said in a wavy I-Don't-Care sought of way.

Chuckie laughed. "That's not the only interesting thing," he said, nodding his head slightly. "Check the other twin," Tommy opened his mouth to ask what had caught Chuckie's attention.

Phil and a girl were on the couch, like Lil and Brad, making out with each-other. Tommy laughed. "Get in there Phil," he said, nudging Chuckie in the ribs. Tommy then frowned. "Who is it, anyway?"

Chuckie tilted his head, feeling a little weird watching one of his best friends with a girl. Then he realised. "Isn't that Natalie from his maths?" he said.

Tommy looked. "Oh, Nat you mean," he said. "She's a babe," Tommy laughed, taking a large swig from the can.

Chuckie bowed his head, romantically he was, as Tommy said, a stick in the mud. Everything was working out for everyone else, and he was left alone. It bothered him, it bothered him a lot. However, there was nothing he could do. In reponse, he grabbed Tommy's cider and downed it. "We're going to have to walk home," he said.

End of Chapter 10.

What did you think? Make sure you drop a review in and let me know.


	12. Chapter 11: Things are Getting Weird

Chapter 11: Things are Getting Weird

Authors note: I'm sorry this took so long. You see, I get interested in my own plot. But sometimes I get bored of it and stop and write something else (which I get quickly bored of). But now I am back into this plot, and am continuing as planned. The story is coming to its conclusion now, not many chapters to go until the finale. I hope you enjoy it.

[P]

"Thanks for leaving me there," Phil complained. Phil, Tommy and Chuckie were on the way to school. This was the first time Tommy and Chuckie had seen Phil since the Saturday party, he had a hangover and had slept the day away.

Chuckie, who had not wanted to drink and drive, had left his car in a car park over night. He didn't drink much and was scared all night that his car would get smashed or stolen. "You were otherwise occupied," Chuckie explained to him and chuckled, quietly to himself.

"Yeah," Tommy concurred. "What's going on with Nat, then?"

Phil laughed, putting his feet up in. Phil had been happy, overall, with what went on with Nat. They were together now; however, the constant texts and phone calls the night before were very irritating, especially when they woke him up… more than once. "Not a lot," he explained. "We're meeting up at lunch."

Tommy nodded. "Cool, Phil," he told him, tapping his fingers on the dashboard.

Chuckie leaned over and put the radio on, it was another old band from his CDs and since Kimi wasn't in the car, he was allowed to keep it on. "Where is Kimi, anyway?" Phil asked. "Still with…"

"Edward," Chuckie completed for him, grinding his teeth together quietly, "yes, she is."

"Still not happy about it then, Chuck," Phil laughed. "To be fair to the guy, Chuckie, he does treat her right. They weren't all over each other at that party, and apparently he beat up someone who was bullying her."

"Kimi was getting bullied," Tommy gasped. "When did this happen?"

"Last week, and before then," Phil explained. "I know, I was shocked too, I wish she had told me, or you, or maybe even Chuckie." Phil looked, absently out of the window. Why didn't she tell him?

As the car pulled down the road, Phil felt so confused. He didn't even know Nat, well; they talked sometimes, but not enough to fall for. He did like her, but he couldn't help but feel like he was using her. Was that wrong of him? Or was it just human to feel insecure and hurt inside every time he saw he girl of his dreams taken by someone who was better than him in every single way?

[K]

"Where's Phil?" Kimi asked Tommy.

Kimi, Tommy and Edward were in the lunch hall again and, as usual, Edward was staring, frowning around the room, Tommy was fiddling with his camera, occasionally filming Edward and Kimi and his own face and Kimi was listening to her headphones with her feet up on the table. "There," Edward said, pointing over Tommy's shoulder.

Tommy and Kimi followed Edward's finger and saw Phil sitting with quite a large group of skaters and he was in the middle, laughing with Nat. "Oh," Kimi said. She turned back and started staring at her feet. "Right."

Kimi was a little confused at the moment. She was feeling a strange, heavy, jealously in her chest. She didn't know why, because she had gotten over Phil quickly. After all, her emotions were not so strongly connected to him, and she had never felt anything like what she had felt for Edward. That was weird in itself, I mean they have only known each other eight days and this was more than just a crush.

"Is Chuckie in chess club?" Edward asked.

"Yeah," Tommy replied, filming around the room. "He has been for a while."

"I suppose me beating him has forced him to practice a bit more," Edward shrugged. "That's good, I suppose." Edward looked up and sighed. "Oh for fuck's sake," he muttered as the principle from his other school came over.

"Hello Johnson," Principle Folsom said. Kimi could sense how foreboding this woman was, and she was pretty scary, she wouldn't like to be shouted at by her. Edward, on the other hand, didn't seem to care. "I need to talk to you and no smart mouthing!" she said, raising her finger has he opened his mouth.

Edward shook his head slightly and forced himself up. "See you later then, Kimi," he said, smiling. "Bye Tommy," he muttered after a second.

Kimi watched Edward walk across the room with Principle Folsom. After a second or two she turned back to Tommy. "So," she said, watching him clean the lens of his camera with his jumper. "What do you think?"

"Of what?"

"Edward, stupid," she chuckled. "What do you think of him?"

Kimi watched Tommy frown in response. "I think he is the hottest boy in the world," Tommy said, and went back to cleaning his camera, like he hadn't said anything.

"What?" Kimi gasped, almost falling off her chair.

Tommy looked back up, laughing. "Well," he said. "I don't really know what you want me to say."

Kimi frowned. "The truth."

"Yeah, I like him," Tommy answered, and it seemed truthful. "Though he is definitely a little weird."

"Yeah," Kimi replied, smiling at the thought. All of her thoughts of Phil had disappeared again. Then she remembered something. "Do you think Edward was telling the truth?"

"What?" Tommy asked. "About what?"

"When he said why Chuckie wasn't here," Kimi said. Tommy looked blank faced and rolled his hand for her to go on. "He said that he wanted to improve his game." Kimi waited and, sure enough, Tommy went: "oh!" and waited for her to continue. "I think he was lying."

"Why's that?"

"Before I say, can I ask you something?"

Tommy grimaced. "That really does depend on what the question is Kimi." As soon as these words came out of his mouth he grinned childishly.

"For goodness' sake, Tommy," she said, shaking her head. "I mean, does Chuckie… well, approve of our relationship?"

Tommy took a while to respond, which irritated Kimi massively. Was he weighing up options of what to say? She wanted the truth. "Well," Tommy said, after what felt like an hour. Kimi pulled her legs off the table and propped her body up, eager to hear the answer. "Yeah, I think he hates it."

"Why?" she gasped. "What's his problem?"

"Well…"

"I mean," Kimi pressed on, interrupting and ignoring Tommy. "He hated when he thought you and me were together, for a while he hated it when we were together, then he thought Phil was putting the moves on and hated that because Phil is too immature." Kimi sighed and looked down at her boots. "Is there any pleasing him?"

"I think the motorbike is the problem," Tommy interjected.

"I don't," she sulked, leaning back in her chair. Chuckie wasn't the real reason she was irate. "I think he hates the fact that Edward's smarter than he is."

"I don't know."

"Has Phil said anything?" Kimi asked. She was trying to be discrete about it, but asking like this was the wrong way to go about it. She realised this instantly and bit her bottom lip.

"About Edward?" Tommy asked.

Kimi nodded, Tommy kept asking questions and it was starting to grate on her. "Are you even listening Tommy?" she growled. As she saw Tommy was still fiddling with his camera, probably not. Fuck it, she thought, I'm going to talk anyway! "Has Phil said anything about Edward, yes?"

"Not really," Tommy said, putting the camera down on the table and looking up at her. "I don't think he likes him at all, after beating him at poker really. He's proud like that."

"Yeah," Kimi said, finding herself looking at her boots again, this time they were pointing together. "Phil and I aren't talking as much at the moment, I think he has been avoiding me." Tommy chuckled. "What?"

"You've been avoiding us," Tommy smiled.

"No I haven't!"

"You've been spending all of your time with Edward, I'm surprised you're even here," Tommy explained.

"So, you're going to be like everyone else then," Kimi growled, standing. "Fine then, get lost Tommy!"

Kimi stormed off and Tommy was left thinking: Well done, fool, you've done it again!

[T]

"Hey bro," Dil said. Dil and Tommy met outside the front of the school. "So," he said, sticking his hands in his pockets, "are we getting a lift off Chuckie today?"

"Nope," Tommy said, shaking his head. "Felt like a walk, today." Tommy walked on ahead of Dil. "Come on then," he saw, gesturing to Dil to follow. As usual, he followed him walking backwards. "I still don't understand how you don't trip," he remarked.

"Practice," he winked. "You're going to Lil's tonight, aren't you?"

"How did you…"

"Don't worry," Dil chuckled, holding up his hand. "I'm not like Edward. Phil told me today after the lecture."

"Oh right," Tommy said, continuing on. "Yeah, I am, she's helping me with science homework and we have a project together."

"A project?" Dil repeated. "Homework?" Dil looked puzzled. "Oh," he said after a moments thought. "You like Lil," he joked in a girl, childish voice.

"No I don't!"

"Yes you do," Dil argued. "Since when have you needed help in science, since middle school you have never got less than an A, which means that you just want to spend more time with Lil. It's like an entrance card, man; it means you can see her more, even when the project's over."

Tommy didn't say anything for a moment. "You're sharp, Dil."

"Hey Tommy," Dil said, stopping. Tommy stopped and turned around. "You want to know what's cooler than that that?" Dil paused. When Tommy gave him a irritating gesture to continue he smiled. "Lil's very smart, very, very smart from what I've heard; she figures things out almost like Edward does."

"Go on," Tommy said, getting annoyed that Dil kept pausing.

"Can't figure it out, 'ey," Dil winked. "If I can figure it out, then I'm pretty sure she has too."

"What's your point?"

"She knows that you can do science, she has known you since you were a baby, remember," Dil explained, "and yet she is continuing to let you come over. What does that mean then bro?" he said, cuing Tommy with his finger.

Tommy stepped back, mentally taken aback by what he had realised.

[T-later]

The street lights were shining down on Tommy as he walked through the night down the streets. Tommy had a lot on his mind at the moment, mostly to do with what Dil had told him earlier in the day. Was Dil right? Tommy thought. He was usually right about, well, everything really. He was much smarter than Tommy, or his parents, probably all three of them put together, so he could definitely trust his judgement, and it definitely made sense.

Tommy crossed Lil's front yard (no pun intended-and anyone who thought it so should be ashamed of their dirty mind ^^) and knocked at the door. Their mother, Betty answered it. "Tommy," she called, gesturing him to come in. "Come on in!" She patted him on his back. "Here for Phil,"

"Hello Betty," Tommy said. "and nope," he smiled. "Lil today."

"Good," she said and chuckled when Tommy looked confused. "Sorry, he's out," she said, rubbing the back of her head. "She's in her room, probably with her headphones on." Just as Tommy thanked her and left, she stopped him. "Just make sure you don't sneak up on her, she gets really cranky when you try that."

End of Chapter 11

Sorry it's short. The next chapter will be title "Things are getting Tough."


	13. Chapter 12: Things are Getting Tough

Chapter 12: Things are Getting Tough

Authors note: This ones going to be written in three sections, one for each of the three relationships. This is the only one I did not write linearly, I wrote the first section, then the third and finally the second.

Sorry this took so long, was planning other things ^^.

[T]

Tommy took a deep breath and knocked a few times on Lil's door. There was no answer so he pushed it open slightly and peeped his head round. Lil's room was clean, spotless in fact, and she was sitting with her back to him on the computer. Tommy had already forgotten the words of warning Betty had told him. He walked in, through the room and leaned over to touch her on the shoulder.

The second he had, Lil's head turned and she grabbed it, throwing him to the floor. Tommy, who was taken off guard, hit the ground with force. "Crap!" Lil gasped, getting off her chair. "Sorry Tommy, you made me jump!"

Tommy got up and rubbed the back of his head, embarrassed (he had just been floored by a cheerleader!), "Wow, Lil," he said, after a second, smirking and raising his eyebrow. "You're no pushover."

"Well, with Phil ambushing me constantly when we were younger and my mom insisting I learn judo," she shrugged. "You pick things like that up. Are you alright?"

"Yes," Tommy said, brushing himself off. "Don't worry about me," he said. "I'm a guy, I'm supposed to be able to take things like this."

"Uh huh," she mocked. There was a seat beside Lil that had already been set up. "Come here then."

Tommy looked around the room. He was surprised to see that it was divided up into two sections. On the right were her clothes, cheerleading, ice skating and everything like that, though on the right were piles and piles of books and notepads, which looked full due to the writing that was visible on the side of the pages. "You've got a lot of books, Lil," Tommy commented. _For fucks sake_, he thought, _really Tommy, going with that one_, _commenting on books…_However, to his surprise, Lil laughed.

"I suppose," she said. "My mom buys them for me."

Tommy settled into the chair next to Lil. The minutes went by as they went through countless formulae. Tommy sighed. "It's times like this that I wish I had a car," he mumbled to himself.

"Why?" Lil asked.

"I just want to drive to one of those drive in movies," he said, throwing his pen up in the air and catching it in between his fingers. "I've always wanted to."

"Brad took me to one of those," Lil told him. Tommy's face sunk slightly, but he turned away to hide it. "Hey, wanna see something cool?" he asked. Tommy turned back and raised his eyebrow. Lil laughed and threw the pencil up the air and caught it, sideways on, in her mouth.

"Nice," Tommy said, nodding. Lil winked. "You're like one of those trained seals at the circus!"

"Shut up," she joked, pushing him.

Not again… Tommy thought. There was a song spinning its way around his head. See, he had been watching Shrek 2 before he came here (and he didn't know why, it sucked), but the song at the beginning were stuck in his head; accidentally in love. He supposed that it was relevant to the way things were going, but it was still annoying.

[P]

_God damn it, _Phil thought, _I'm so bored! _Phil was outside with Nat and all of her friends. Nat had brought her skateboard with her, and the people around her were doing various tricks whilst he was lying on his back on a bench nearby. It wouldn't be a problem if he could do it, but he'd never wanted to.

He looked over to the group in their cliché clothing. His eyes met Nat as he scanned the crowd. Maybe this was a good idea; he had decided that Kimi must be well out of his league as, well, they had known each other for a long time and nothing had happened, so it must be for the best that he ended up with Nat, who was more his level (maybe that sounded a little shallow because it definitely did in his head).

Nat walked over to him and he sat up. "Hey," she said, leaning over and kissing him. That was one advantage of Nat, they had only been together for three days and they were already kissing often. That's not to say she was a slut, maybe she was, but she was quick to things without any embarrassment. "Were you sleeping?" she asked.

"Maybe a little," he laughed, stretching his arms out over his head. "I didn't get much sleep last night," he lied. Probably not a good idea to tell the truth at this point in the relationship, he thought.

He still missed Kimi, he still wanted to be with her and he was still pissed off with Edward and himself for being so painfully inadequate. Phil leaned up and looked at Nat, _well this is pretty cool, _he thought. Phil didn't know whether or not he hated Kimi's relationship with Edward was because he was better than him, or if it was Kimi herself and he would be like this with anyone.

"Why don't you learn how to board, Phil?" Nat asked.

Phil smiled. "Too scared," he joked. "Too much work, too. No thanks, I'd like to keep my feet on the ground!"

"Fair enough," she shrugged. "But you're missing out."

Phil raised his eyebrow as she left back to the group. Something was eating at Phil's brain at the moment. So, in response, he picked up his phone and texted the one person who he really wanted to see.

[K]

Kimi pushed open the door to the music room and saw Edward sitting at the grand piano in the middle room. "What is it, Edward?" she asked. Edward had texted her to rush down to the music room and she had been as quick as she could. It was after school and she was still here to finish some homework, Edward had said that he would wait for her.

"I wanted to try something," he said, looking through the open lid. "Come here," he smiled, gesturing over to the long seat.

Kimi walked over and sat beside him. "I don't play piano," Kimi lied.

"Yeah," Edward joked. "I've run the marathon five times." After a few seconds pause, he continued. "Play something for me."

"But I don't play!"

"Then maybe it will just come to you," Edward told her, sure of himself. Edward watched her intently as she sat and rested her hands on the piano. "Yep, you play…" he smiled.

"How do you know?" Kimi asked. "Or, how did you know?"

"Saw you tapping on your leg," he explained. He looked at her face, she was raising her eyebrow. "Anyway," he said. "Play something."

Kimi sat and played through some things she had written, Edward pressed a key, high up. "What's the progression?" he asked.

"Eight bars per," she explained. Her face was lighting up as she sat doing what she loved. "In the key of 'A sharp', then G, then F, the d sharp and finally back to A."

"Ok," Edward said, and started playing along. "You're good," he told her. "Actually, you're better than that."

"Thanks," Kimi said. "You're going back to X in four days."

"I know," he said.

"What was you're school like?" Kimi asked.

"Well, if you like violence, drugs and kids who have been in juvenile hall since they were born, then great," Edward explained.

"Seriously?" Kimi gasped.

"Yeah," Edward said. "The only interesting thing, really, in my life back there is the safety patrol."

Kimi smirked. "Are you a hall monitor, Edward?" Kimi asked, sticking her tongue out. "Down to D now," she told him.

"Ok," Edward said, moving his hands slightly down the piano. "And no," Edward told her. "Fillmore, Ingrid and I are about the only ones who aren't though."

"What do you do?"

"Well, Fillmore and Ingrid are detectives," he explained, "and I am aware of how juvenile are ridiculous that sound but they have put a few people in prison, or at least got the evidence to do so. I was almost killed once."

"No you weren't!" Kimi gasped.

"Seriously," he said, nodding. "I was involved in a gang, and they beat the crap out of me when they realized that I was a spy."

"So what do you then?" Kimi asked after a second thinking about Edward's school. "Are you an undercover… person?" Kimi was reluctant to say agent, or spy, because it felt condescending and didn't want to offend.

"Not exactly," Edward said. "As your brother has probably told you, I'm a hacker. I hack into people's computers at school and steal their information, and I was the youngest legal private investigator for a while."

"Wow," Kimi marveled. "What was it like? Getting to know all the information about so many people?"

"Pretty fun," Edward laughed. "I hacked into your brother's computer a few times. See, he and I were talking on various image boards and IRCs before I came here. His nickname was TheMightyChuck, which I thought was pretty ridiculous at the time."

"TheMightyChuck?" Kimi repeated, giggling. "I'm never going to let that go when I get home!" Kimi paused. "What was your nickname, or did you have many?"

"Well, on my website I was always Edward Johnson, and my computer was completely protected so if someone tried to find out where I live it would be in, well, south China at the moment," he explained. "However, when I posted on other sites I was always Xavier."

"Why Xavier?"

"When I was undercover, the name I was given was Xavier," he shrugged. "I guess I liked it so I stuck with it."

"It seems like a fun life you lead," Kimi smiled.

Edward hummed. "Why didn't you tell me straight away that you played the piano?" he asked. "I mean, if you had just started and didn't want to make a fool of yourself then I could understand, but you are quite obviously good."

"I just don't want people to think I am rubbish," she sighed.

Edward raised his eyebrow. "Under confidence," he said, as if he was mulling it over. "Interesting." Kimi smiled. She felt her phone buzz in her pocket and frowned, she wasn't expecting any messages from people. "Phone?" Edward asked.

"Yep," Kimi said, taking it out of her pocket and reading it.

It read: _"Hi Kimi. Sorry u had to stay at school for work :(, what are you up to now? Want to meet up later?" _and was from Phil.

"Who's it from?" Edward asked.

Kimi looked up. "You know who it's from," she told him.

"Yeah," he replied, rubbing the back of his head. "What does Phil want?"

Kimi frowned, not replying for a second. Then, without replying, she slipped the phone back into her pocket. "Nothing important," she said, and started playing piano again.

End of Chapter 12

The PhilxNat and TommyxLil sections were too short, I know, but I ran out of ideas. The main part of this chapter was supposed to be the KimixEdward section and Phil's reaction. I hope you enjoyed it, though, and don't forget to review!

P.s: this will be the last chapter for a while.


	14. Chapter 13: Tuesday Morning Shivers

Author's note: Not long now, people, until the finale of this story. If you want, leave some predictions on how this story is going to end. Thanks to all my supporters and at the end of my story I will leave personal responses to each of the reviewers.

I got round to finishing this because I got grounded, so at least one good thing came out of it!

Chapter 13: Tuesday Morning Shivers

[E]

Edward was looking up into the sky, his head spinning with ideas of the future. It was early in the morning, when Edward had last looked at the clock it was five, and he had been out for around five minutes now. He had a large cigar in his mouth and was lying on his back on a park bench. The blue lake beside him was shining in the morning sun and anyone else would feel refreshed, but Edward felt strange.

Only four full school days left until he had to leave and go back to X. This bothered him more than he could explain. There was only one person he could think of, Kimi Finster, and it was tearing him apart. Edward blew out some of the cigar, it was Cuban. He didn't often smoke them, but he bought them and thought he would treat himself.

"Edward?" Edward heard a call from behind some trees. After a few seconds of rustling and someone swearing loudly, Fillmore appeared out of some trees. "Edward, are you down here?"

Edward said nothing, and sunk lower into the park bench (hoping Fillmore wouldn't see him) and kept quiet. Fillmore walked over. "Hello, Edward," he said, appearing above Edward's head. Edward knew he couldn't hide, the smoke from his cigar was showing his position, but it was worth a shot.

"How did you find me?" Edward demanded, still lying on his back. "I didn't see you following."

"It's one, long road, Edward," Fillmore laughed. "I followed you earlier, and then saw your bike over there by the road," he gestured. "You were loud down the hall of the hotel, and I wondered what you were up to?"

Edward grunted something. "Anyway," he said, he held up a tube. "Want one?"

"Sure," Fillmore said, and caught it when Edward threw it. After a few seconds, Fillmore remembered what he wanted to talk about (the cigar distracted him). "So, why have you come out to a deserted lake?" he asked. "If you just wanted a cigar you could have sat outside or, knowing you, just done it in your room."

"Yep," Edward agreed.

"It's Kimi, isn't it," Fillmore said. "You've hit that point haven't you? You're actually happy with her, really happy. In fact, I don't think I have ever seen you so happy."

"Yeah," Edward growled. "Thank you, Fillmore!"

"Oh, I get it," Fillmore laughed. "You're out here because you're miserable. And do you know why you're miserable, Edward?"

"Enlighten me," Edward muttered sarcastically.

"It's because you're happy, but in a few days it will be gone again," Fillmore explained to him. "You'll lose Kimi, one of the only things that make you truly happy." Fillmore smiled broadly.

"Maybe you're right," Edward growled. "But, you don't have to look so smug about it." He stared at Fillmore, who was looking very happy indeed.

"It's good," Fillmore said, and raised his hand when Edward tried to argue.

"How on earth is it good?" Edward demanded.

"It proves something really important," Fillmore told him. "It proves something that you try so hard to hide. People do make you happy, Edward, but you hide it because you've been betrayed in the past. You didn't lose it, but you're too afraid to be made a target again, to let people know the truth so they can get close to you. You're a coward, Edward."

"Fuck you, Fillmore," Edward said. He got up as quickly as he could and made for his bike, his knee irritating him more than ever.

"Good luck, Edward," Fillmore called behind him.

Edward swung his leg over his bike, put his helmet on and drove off as quickly as possible. He was so angry with Fillmore that he had thrown his cigar into the lake. How dare he say such things? Though, inside Edward's purely rational brain, he was right. He did feel happy when he was around Kimi, which meant that he could feel it around others unless Kimi was one of a kind.

"Screw it," Edward said to himself, and turned a corner and making sure Fillmore wasn't still following him. "I'm having a breakfast." Edward had to see Kimi after school today, and he would ring her as soon as he had some food in his stomach, regardless of whether or not she was asleep.

[T]

Tommy looked into his own eyes through his mirror. It was early in the morning and he was brushing his teeth, preparing himself eagerly for the following day. He and Lil had really hit it off yesterday. He felt like he could dance, which was one of his more embarrassing urges.

Last night had gone so well that Lil had decided that they should meet up every day this week, until the piece was due. She was coming over to his on Friday, but other than that he was meeting her. He smirked to himself in the mirror and got in the shower. Not only that, but he had been up a long time chatting to her both by text and phone. He was feeling the tiredness, but he didn't care.

After about ten minutes Tommy was lying on his bed, listening to his music with his eyes shut. He had that feeling that you get when things have gone great, and you know that something great was definitely coming. He felt it in his stomach, a mixture of anxiety and happiness. Needless to say, he was feeling pretty good this morning.

Tommy pulled out his phone and rang the number he rung every morning: Chuckie's. After a few *brings, Chuckie picked up. "Hi Tommy," Chuckie said and yawned.

"Wow Chuckie," Tommy laughed. "Was it a late night or something?"

"Yeah," Chuckie admitted. "Got a console for a game on my computer and stayed up most of the night changing the game. It was great."

"Anyway," Tommy said, bringing the conversation forward before Chuckie went off on a thirty minute tangent. "Can you come pick me up please?"

"Sure," Chuckie said. "Oh, that reminds me," Tommy heard Chuckie scratching his head (he always did this when he had remembered something. "How did everything go last night?"

"What do you mean?" Tommy asked. This was the wrong thing to do, getting defensive with Chuckie just made him more suspicious. He probably knew that he (Tommy) liked Lil, a lot, because Dil had picked up on it. He wasn't entirely sure who was smarter out of the two of them but regardless it must have been close.

"You know what I mean, Tommy," Chuckie chuckled. Shit, Tommy thought, he does know. Tommy pictured Chuckie standing there with that self righteous look on his face when he knew something and bit his lip. "I mean," Chuckie continued after a second, "did you get any further with your work? I know working with Lil can be really stressful."

Chuckie was teasing him now, and being sarcastic. There was nothing Tommy hated more than a sarcastic Chuckie. "Well, I got a lot done," Tommy said, proud of not rising to the bait and basically admitting that he liked Lil. "Lil's smart, Chuckie, she is also surprisingly obsessive about staying at the top in school."

"Yeah, Phil told me," Chuckie agreed. "He rang before you, he wants to be picked up as well."

"Can you be quick please, Chuckie?" Tommy asked. "I have nothing to do and I'm bored!"

"Fine," Chuckie said. "I'll be there in five; can you ring Phil and let him know? I'm running out of credit."

"Who have you been calling?" Tommy said. Once again proud of himself for picking up on something this important and getting revenge on Chuckie for earlier.

"No one."

"Then how have you ran out of credit?" Tommy asked, raising his eyebrow, now genuinely interested due to Chuckie's secrecy.

"I'll be there in five, Tommy," Chuckie concluded. "I'll see you then."

"Bye Chuckie," Tommy said, and Chuckie hung up the phone.

That was an interesting conversation, Tommy reflected in his head as he got ready for school. Why would Chuckie be so defence about ringing someone? It had to be embarrassing or significant otherwise he wouldn't cover it up. After some thought, Tommy decided not to bring it up again, but wait and see what would happen in the next couple of weeks. Maybe what had happen would present itself. Man, he hadn't been this curious, in anything, for a long time.

Tommy looked through his phonebook. After a few *brings (more than Chuckie) Phil picked up. "Yeah?" he said down the phone.

"Hi," Tommy said. "What's up Phil, you sound down." What's wrong with everybody today? Tommy thought to himself. What with Chuckie being secretive and staying up all night and… wait a second. Tommy's thoughts were diverted suddenly. What if Chuckie had been up all night on the phone?

"Tommy?" Phil said down the phone. "Are you there?"

"Yeah, sorry Phil," Tommy said. "I was just thinking about something. Anyway, what's up? You don't sound too good."

"Nothing, man," Phil said, sounding back to normal again. "Just a little early, you know."

"Sure," Tommy said. "Anyway, Chuckie told me to tell you that he's coming to pick you up a little earlier. In about three minutes I need."

"Oh," Phil said, and Tommy heard his open his wardrobe. "Ok then. Are you getting a lift today then?"

"Yeah."

"What happened last night with Lil?" Phil asked.

Tommy stiffened. What could that possibly mean? "Why? Has she said anything?" Tommy asked, trying to sound a little guilty as possible. He was sure Phil would pick up on it and, well… Phil was very protective over his sister, like all brothers, really (his mind went back to when Chuckie thought he was dating Kimi, all those years ago).

"She just said she had a good time and got a lot of work done," Phil said (that was more or less what Tommy had said to Chuckie), "Why?"

"No reason," Tommy smiled to himself. He had gotten away with it, even though he hadn't really done anything. There was nothing wrong with texting Lil, he just didn't feel like telling Phil. Everyone was hiding something, and being suspicious at the same time. "Anyway, I have to go, I'll see you in the car."

"Yeah, see you in a bit, man," Phil said, and hung up the phone.

[P]

Phil hung up the phone and threw it over his head, smiling when he head it bounce on his bed. He was still thinking about Kimi, and even Tommy had noticed it. She didn't answer his text. Phil was waging an inner war with himself. She got it; he got the message report, so why didn't she answer?

Phil grabbed his school bag and headed downstairs and he was surprised to see that Lil wasn't in the kitchen, but her bag was hung up on the door. "Lil?" Phil called upstairs. He couldn't believe it, but Lil was still asleep. She must have been up all night doing something, but he couldn't figure out what.

A few seconds later, Phil heard a series of bumps upstairs as Lil clattered around the room. She was probably panicking about being so late. "Thanks Phil!" he heard her shout. Phil smirked, it was a good thing that the two of them were on good terms at the moment, or he would have left her. Lil had not been late to school for years, and she would freak out if she started. Their mom would as well.

Kimi didn't reply to him… this realisation pulled him back down to reality. She didn't reply to the text. Phil slumped into the chair and made up his mind. He would have to do something today, something drastic. He would have to talk to her…

End of Chapter 13

Well, I hope you enjoyed this little glimpse into the characters lives. I also left a little hint for the future of Chuckie, I wonder who picked up on it.


	15. Chapter 14: Twin's Thoughts

Author's note: Hello everyone and thanks for the feedback from my last chapter. I have it fully planned now; the finale will be the seventeenth chapter (unless I come up with some new ideas). This is the fourth to last chapter to so once again, hope you enjoy it.

By the way, I was reading the story to myself today (just to get it clear to the end and make sure that all of my sub plots would be resolved) and it's funny how much more serious and about break ups and genius and all sorts since the beginning. If you have time, I would recommend reading it from the beginning again up to hear and by then maybe I will have finished ^^.

Oh, to Lil fans, I'm having a section dedicated to Lil's point of view this time, which contains all of her thoughts on Tommy. I had originally thought to put this bit as the start to another chapter, but I wrote so much that I should just let it be a chapter on its own. So this is an early update to get my word count up :P.

Anyway, on to the chapter! Thanks to my reviewers, it's you guys and gals that inspire me. I'll give a message to each of you at the end, and thanks to all the alerts and favourites.

Chapter 14: Twin's Thoughts

[P]

Phil sat on his front lawn and twiddled his thumbs. The winter was fast approaching but it was surprisingly dry for a morning, though when he looked up to the sky and saw the black clouds closing in he knew that it wouldn't last.

He had been drifting apart from Kimi these last two weeks, and he didn't know what to do. Back in the house he was dead set on talking to her, but now he thought that if he waited Edward would be gone. Not only that, but he knew that he was being a bastard (his own thought), he felt like he didn't care about her feelings; only his own.

Phil heard the door behind him open. "Hey Phil, waiting for Tommy?" she asked, shutting and locking it behind her.

He turned his head slightly, a little impressed with how quickly she had got ready (she had showered and her hair was still wet) but other than that she looked the same as ever. The only thing was she was going at her hair with a comb like her life depended on it. "Yeah," Phil told her, "well, we're picking Tommy up, Chuckie's giving me a lift to his."

"Do you think Chuckie would mind giving me a lift?" Lil asked, looking at herself in the mirror.

"No," Phil said and then stopped. "Why isn't Brad giving you a lift?"

"He rang me this morning," Lil explained. "But I was asleep and couldn't pick up. Now, it's too late so it isn't worth ringing him."

Phil couldn't help but think how strange that sounded, but he ignored it for the moment. However, there was one thing he could not ignore. "Lil, why are you so tired today?" he asked "I mean, you're always up before me, either downstairs or in the shower, but today I beat you and had to wake you."

"Thanks for waking me," Lil replied before continuing with the main part of the conversation. "I was tired because," she stopped for a moment, "I was on the phone all night."

Phil frowned. "Brad?" he asked.

"Yeah," Lil said.

Phil heaved playfully and Lil laughed. Just as he did so, Chuckie's old car pulled up on the sidewalk. "Hi Phil," he said after he opened his window. "Oh, hi Lil as well, you want a ride?"

"Yeah," Lil smiled and opened the back door, "thanks Chuckie."

"Yeah, yeah," Phil hurried her in and jumped in behind her, throwing his bag on the floor. "Get a move on Lil, some of us have to get to school!"

"Says the one who most days I have to push out of the bed," Lil retorted and Phil just grunted in response.

Chuckie started the car and drove off. His car seemed to be making more noise than it usually did but that didn't disguise the loud yawn of Chuckie and Phil in unison. "What the hell?" Phil groaned afterward. "Is everyone tired today?"

"Got a console for my game, Phil," Chuckie explained to him. "I've been on it all night. You know, you never really know a game until you can change the codes so people fly." Chuckie chuckled to himself.

"Sounds fun," Phil muttered sarcastically. He did like games, and played on his X-box a lot (usually with Kimi). However, he didn't pick games apart and obsess like Chuckie did: it just wasn't in his nature. "Tommy seemed a bit tired as well," he commented. "Was I the only one to get a good night of sleep? Watch out, you might miss the remarkable, beautiful mind of Edward Johnson."

"You sound a little sarcastic there Phil," Chuckie said, looking at him in the mirror.

"Do you have a problem with Edward?" she asked.

"Yeah, he's not right for Kimi," he told them.

Chuckie nodded and Lil scoffed. "They're so cute together," she said. "Kimi's unique and Edward is the strangest rebel I've ever seen." Lil put her finger on her chin in thought. "I mean, she's always liked, well… weird people, but Edward's like a nerd Jock hybrid."

With Lil's "so cute together" remark, Phil fell back in his chair, defeated. With his cap pulled over his face, it ended the conversation. His only problem now was trying to keep the image of Kimi and Edward out of his head as it knotted his stomach and made him feel sick.

[L]

Lil looked out of the window. She was wondering whether Phil or Chuckie had caught on. Phil knew her, they were twins after all, and if he found out that it was Tommy who she was onto the phone all night, not Brad, then it would really need some explaining. Not only that, but it would lead them all closer to the truth.

That was another point all together. What was the truth? She didn't know who she liked; she didn't know exactly what she wanted. Did she want to be with Brad and have her happy, easy life, or drop it all and be with Tommy, the one she truly loved. She hadn't even contacted Brad today, she just knew Chuckie would be with Tommy today, and she wanted another chat with him.

Chuckie pulled outside of Tommy's house and saw Tommy leaning on the wall next to the door of the house that they all had spent so much time in when they were younger. As babies, they played games in the crib as children, they played in the garden, and as preteens they watched horror films in the middle of the night in the living room.

Tommy's headphones must have been on loud as he hadn't noticed that Chuckie had pulled out outside of the house. Before Chuckie honked the horn, Lil took the time to admire the way that Tommy had grown up. His Russian like, hard face looked incredibly handsome today (more so than ever). He had black hair, and it was messy and quite long, but not at all greasy or dirty. He wore a black, thin jacket over a blue top with the IPod logo on it and jeans. In other words, his clothes were nothing special, and he was good looking. So why couldn't she stop drooling over him? She couldn't believe herself; she hadn't been like this before. She must have been bottling things up for years.

Chuckie honked the horn and Tommy looked up. He saw Lil in the car and smiled and waved. "Come on Tommy!" Phil called out the car, ruining the moment in one foul swoop. He had been hurrying everyone today, what was wrong with him? What was he waiting for?

As Tommy drew closer Lil noticed the bags under his eyes. These bags were reflected on her eyes (but she had tried to disguise it) and Chuckie's, though Chuckie's more, oddly enough. "Hi Tommy," Lil smiled as he opened the front door and dropped his bag by his feet.

"Hi Lil," he nodded to her. "Chuckie, you look really tired!" He smiled, and it was a great smile. "Have you been up all night?"

"You know I have, Tommy," Chuckie replied as he drove the car onto the road. "Why do you keep asking?"

"Just curious," Tommy said, and then coughed: "because you're full of it."

"What?" Chuckie spluttered. "What's going on, I was up all night on a game, got it. That's it!"

Lil leaned back in the chair, smiling at the thought of some new gossip-not that she would be spreading it. She was a little disappointed she wouldn't get the chance to talk to Tommy, but there would be time later. It was funny to think of Chuckie with a girl, and Lil was smart enough, and experienced enough, to know exactly what it was. She didn't know whether Tommy had figured it out yet, but he was definitely curious.

"Chuckie, you have so many games, though I don't think you have stayed up all night in a long time, unless it's cramming," Tommy laughed. "You wouldn't want to be tired anyway for the lectures. There is something else going on here, I know it."

"Well, there isn't," Chuckie assured him and squeezed the steering wheel. "And I am worried about being tired for Edward's work, this is a once in a lifetime opportunity."

"Which is all the more reason you wouldn't stay up all night on a game," Tommy muttered. Lil was sure that she had seen Chuckie stiffen when he said his last comment, the mistake that gave it all away. Tommy must have figured it out. Lil laughed and Tommy turned back and winked at her.

Tommy winking at her brought her back with a bump to her situation. She really did not know what to do; there was no way of deciding short of flipping a coin. No, that wouldn't work, she wouldn't rely on luck. She needed to be popular, to know all of the rich kids and their rich parents who knew college entry people, the parents who knew professors. Or was she nit picking now, it wasn't about her future at all. It was that she was too scared of making a big decision.

All Lil knew was that when Tommy smiled at her, she felt happy.

End of Chapter 14

This was just a short update to keep you all going. It was supposed to be the start of a chapter, like I said, and fused with Tuesday shivers. But now this one day has been drawn out. I suppose that's good, so more information can make a better story. Let me know what you think.


	16. Chapter 15: The Real Me

Author's note: Yay, I'm in the forties in my review count now! All of you writers probably know how great is feels to get reviews ^^. I don't know why, but even one review makes the difference. Also, I am nearly in the forty thousands, which will put me in the top 13 length works of fictions on this site.

Thank you to all my reviewers, readers, alerters and favouriters for being so great! I all hope you enjoy the following chapters to the end.

Chapter 14: The Real Me

[T]

Tommy yawned again as he clambered out of the car. Chuckie had parked quite far away from the school, how inconsiderate of him! Tommy knew why he did this: he wanted to be too far for the bullies in the school to be bothered to walk out and scratch his car, or pop his tires. Still, he was so tired today. However, he felt great.

Tommy looked back and saw Lil in the same position; too tired to get out and trying to throw herself. Tommy offered a hand. "Want a hand?" he asked.

Lil giggled and took it and he pulled her up. "Thanks," she winked. Tommy couldn't help but think that he and her were becoming more and more flirty every time they spoke. He didn't mind, but he couldn't help but feel like he was getting mixed messages. "We have to listen to Edward first thing today," Lil said. "Oh, that reminds me, where's Dil?"

Tommy had completely forgotten about Dil, must have been occupied with thoughts of Lil. "He's sick," Tommy explained. "He's been sick since four, which is about the time when we stopped talking."

"I know, right," Lil said. "I'm sorry about your brother; tell him I hope he feels better soon."

"I'm feeling tired now," Tommy told her. "I can barely keep my eyes open."

"Sleep in the lecture," Lil suggested. That's not a bad idea, thought Tommy. Phil usually sleeps during the lectures, and he never seemed to get caught and told off. Then again, he did have a cap (his lucky cap) covering his face.

Tommy turned and looked to Phil, who was rolling his shoulders. "Phil," he said loudly, getting his attention. Phil looked over. "Your not tired today, are you?"

"Nope," Phil said, straightening his hat. "I seem to be the only one who isn't." Phil didn't look tired, but there was a strange, almost angry and depressed (at the same time), look in his eyes. However, he looked completely alert.

"Can I borrow your cap then?" Tommy asked.

Phil chuckled. "Want my lucky sleep hat do you," Phil said. He took it off his head and passed it to him. "Those lectures can be a bore, and you look tired."

Wait a second, Tommy thought, that didn't sound right at all. Since when did Phil say "be a bore" and he figured out exactly what Tommy wanted to do without telling him. It wasn't that difficult, but Phil never thought about anything. "Did you notice that?" Lil whispered.

"What?"

"Phil sounds different today," Lil said.

"That's exactly what I was thinking," Tommy whispered back, he was proud of himself for figuring something out that Lil had. It made him feel smart for a change. Being overshadowed by Dil and Chuckie didn't feel great all of the time.

"Are we going to the lecture then?" Chuckie asked, as he took his laptop bag out of his car and locked it behind him. "I don't really want to be out in the car park with," Chuckie's voice fell down to a whisper, "my laptop and new chessboard."

"That sounds fine, Chuckie," Phil says. There he goes again, Tommy swore he remembered Phil saying dude, and man earlier today. It was like Phil was distracted, or maybe he was trying to sound smarter than usual. "Tommy, Lil are you two coming?"

"Yeah, sure," Tommy said with a strange look in his eye. "Is Kimi with Edward again, Chuckie?"

Chuckie sighed. "Yeah," he explained. "He picked her up early. He had brought her breakfast. McDonald's breakfast. She loves it but it really isn't good for her. He's such a bad influence!"

Tommy shook his head. "You know how I feel Chuckie," he told him. "You know that she literally couldn't have a smarter boyfriend. He's famous for being smart, for being successful. He also builds stuff for your computer, according to you."

"I've deleted it all," Chuckie said. "I'm pretty sure he has been using it to spy on me for Kimi. My computer keeps behaving strangely, files having changing dates right in front of me."

"No offence Chuckie," Lil said. "But from what I have read about Edward, if he didn't want you to know that he was hacking into your computer, you wouldn't be able to tell. Apparently he has helped the police more than once and apparently he was involved in a hacking match with cyber criminals, leading the police to an arrest."

"Where did you read that?" Tommy frowned.

"You won't believe it," she smirked. "He has his own Wikipedia article."

"What?" Tommy gasped. "I had no idea."

Tommy looked over and saw Phil looking shocked. "I truly didn't know he was so famous, I didn't even search for him on google."

Tommy, Lil, Phil and Chuckie had opened into the hall and pupils were starting to fill it. Chuckie was doing his usual brisk, tucked in tight rushed walk trying to prevent anyone from bumping into him or knocking his laptop. The hall wasn't that far away, but it was far enough to Chuckie to become terrified.

[K]

Kimi held tightly onto Edward as he rode down the road. He was going a lot slower now under her request. She had begged him to slow down over and over again until he was sick of it, that and the fact that she screamed into the microphone and almost caused him to crash the bike.

"Lecture first thing today, Kimi," Kimi heard in the helmet.

"Yep," she smiled to herself; her perfect boyfriend was so smart. "What are you doing today?"

"Do you really want to know?" Kimi knew Edward was grinning. He didn't really smile properly, not often, but his voice changed when he did. Kimi and Edward had spent nearly every minute of every hour of every day together since they got together. "Did you enjoy the drive yesterday?"

"I love the sea, Edward," Kimi said. They had driven down to the sea last night. It had taken them three hours and she hadn't got back until midnight, but it was worth it to see the ocean.

"I know, that's why I went," Edward said. "I can't stand it myself, too sandy and cold and wet and such. But if you like it, I'll do it."

Even the way Edward complained was great, and she couldn't stop herself blushing. His English accent made it sound so good. She didn't usually like the accent, she thought it sounded pretentious, but Edward had this nice English-San Francisco mix that worked for him.

Edward pulled up to the car park and stopped the bike. Kimi jumped off and took her helmet off. "Listen Edward, I have to go. I've got to pick up some books from my Physics teacher," she explained. "I've also got some overall coursework that's unfinished, and I need to explain to my teacher, or he'll kill me."

"Ok then, Kimi," Edward pulled off his helmet and put it under his arm. "I'll see you in the lesson then."

"You bet," she smiled and walked off. Kimi pushed through the front entrance through the viscous crowd. She had gone the front way so she would pass the lecture hall before class and lots of people, as a 'joke' would lean in and scream and whistle. Attention seeking bastards, thought Kimi.

Kimi headed down the hall and saw a few people filing in, but one person was waiting outside. He was leaning on the wall, looking around; he was waiting for someone. When he saw Kimi he stood up straight and walked toward her. It was Phil. "Listen Kimi," he said, a strange strain to his voice. "I need, desperately, to have a word with you."

"Can't it wait?" she asked, and saw Phil stiffen. "I'm in a rush."

"No," Phil said, defiantly, "It cannot, under any circumstances." He paused for a second and rubbed his chin. "This is exactly it, Kimi."

"Exactly what?" Kimi asked. She was taken aback and a little annoyed by the way Phil was speaking to her: like some naughty child who had stolen a sweet before dinner. It was patronising, and there was nothing she hated more than being patronised. "What do you want Phil?"

"You're making excuses all the time, hanging out with Edward," Phil sighed. "You didn't answer my text Kimi, and you did get it, I got the report. And don't lie and tell me you had no credit, because you texted Lil later, she mentioned it."

"Oh I see," she said, hanging her head and shaking it, "you're jealous!"

"Jealous," he repeated. "Jealous of what."

He was deliberately playing dumb. "You're jealous of Edward being smart and you're not. You're angry that he's not stupid." Kimi knew that was a cruel thing to say to her best friend, but she had to punish him for talking to her like a child. After all, she was a very headstrong girl with very strong opinions and boundaries.

It was Phil's turn to hang his head this time. "I'm not," Phil said. "I'm not… not stupid Kimi, not at all."

"What?" she said. "You always sleep in the lectures because you don't understand it." She was going too far now and bit her lip, almost drawing blood. She was about to apologise and hug him, but he began to speak again.

"I don't sleep in the lectures Kimi," he told her.

Kimi's eyes widen. She saw him sleep every lecture, he pulled his hat over his head and slept. "But, you always do," she said, shaking her head. "I sometimes hear you snore, you never move as well." Kimi was really confused. She did not know how to take this information, and didn't fully believe it. Phil was a bit of an idiot, maybe this was some sort of joke.

"No, I pretend to," Phil explained. "I pull my hat down so you all think I'm asleep and don't talk to me. I listen to every word and take it all in."

"But…" she said, almost stuttering. "You're sister was invited and you weren't."

"Kimi, I'm a kid," he explained. "I don't want to be like Chuckie, I don't want to be pressured by the school and I like being lazy. Just like you don't want people to know you play piano."

"How did you…"

"I can see it in a muscle in your lower arm," Phil explained. This was too much for Kimi, Phil was actually starting to sound like Edward and this was exactly what Edward had said earlier.

Kimi still wasn't convinced. "Prove it," Kimi said. Kimi had heard one thing that Edward had said when he was musing. "Explain the…" she could barely remember it, "Schrodanger wave equation."

Phil smiled for a second. "It's Schrodinger," he said. "the Schrodinger equation is a mathematical wave equation designed by Physicist Erwin Schrodinger. It is a, in the case of study through Edward, a one dimensional oscillation, sinusoidal probability wave that applies to the one dimensionally trapped particle where each oscillation represents a probability density. The equation itself, as a function of X, equals the square route of 2 over the absolute length, as an amplitude, multiplied by the sine of the quantised energy level multiplied by Pi multiplied by the x component over the length." Phil seemed to be talking faster than usual, like he was in some sort of state. "Are you convinced yet?" he asked.

"But you never take notes," Kimi said, reasoning with herself. "You never pay attention in class, you get Bs at best."

"Like I said, I'm not ready for the school to be all over me yet, that's for the junior and senior years," he explained.

"So you've been lying to everyone," Kimi muttered. "You've been lying to me, your best friend!"

"You've been ignoring me," Phil argued, "your best friend."

"That's not the same Phil!" Kimi shouted. "You've been lying ever since we knew each other."

"It's not lying, Kimi," Phil reasoned, "I just wanted a lazy life."

Kimi shook her head. "Listen Phil," Kimi muttered again and turned and walked off. "I can't take this at the moment, it's just too much."

"Kimi wait!"

"No, I'm in a rush, I need to get my work," Kimi said, rushing off in the opposite direction down the hall. "I will see you later!"

"Please don't tell anyone!" Phil begged down the hall.

Kimi just ignored him.

End of Chapter 14

Well, there's a big revelation for you. That was the secret of Phil that I wrote about so many chapters ago. There is more to the story, but you will have to wait for that. Also, I have decided to make this story an extra chapter long. I know, I am so inconsistent! I hope you enjoyed it, so rate and review!


	17. Chapter 16: Penny for Your Thoughts

Author's note: Oh, I wonder who was surprised by that little bit of information. Who would have thought that about Phil? Who, indeed. I had been saving this since I started and I hope I pulled it off well enough. Thanks for all the support you all give me, and I'll let you know my gratitude on the last chapter.

I know a few chapters ago I put a chapter cap on 17, but I've decided to scrap that idea and give you more glimpses into the character's heads. This chapter is going to end Tuesday, as three chapters for one day is a bit much, don't you think? This is the second longest chapter this story, so enjoy it.

Chapter 16: Penny for Your Thoughts

[K]

What the hell? What the hell? What the hell? These three words were repeating themselves over and over and over again in Kimi's head. Phil, he was smart. No, he was more than smart. He was possibly smarter than Chuckie and Lil, maybe put together. Not only that but he had been planning and lying all of his life to cover it up. Could she trust him?

Yes, she could. For some reason she couldn't be angry with him for lying. Maybe it was because she had insulted him so badly. That was wrong of her, and she felt sick with guilt. Phil had always been kind to her, always been there for her. When her mom had gone into hospital after a car accident he had sat with her and hugged her as she cried.

Edward will probably figure out what happened, knowing him. Damn it, just earlier she had loved how smart he was, but now she was worried about having to talk about it. She really, really didn't want to talk about it.

Kimi had got her work and dropped off her stuff and was now on her way back to the hall. She didn't really want to go, but she couldn't get in trouble for skiving or her parents will kill her, so she went in the side door and snuck down the hall. Edward was already in mid speech but stopped for a second when he saw her walk in and did that strange, squinty look when he had seen something strange.

Great, she thought, he's figured something out. Edward didn't dwell on it any further and got back to talking, probably not wanting to embarrass Kimi in front of every. Kimi scanned down the hall and saw her friends sitting on the third row from the front. Thankfully, Phil was on the side furthest away from her and there was a free seat next to Lil.

Kimi snuck down as quickly as possible and Lil smiled, then frowned. "Are you alright, Kimi?" she asked.

Kimi bit her lip, should she tell Lil about what had happened. No, Phil had asked, no begged, her not to tell anyone. In honour of their friendship she kept her mouth shut. "No, I'm fine," she said, trying not to sound guilty. "Just tired, I suppose."

"Yeah, me to," she said and then gestured over to Tommy (who was sitting next to her). He had his head leaned back and Phil's cap over his face. Kimi could hear him snoring softly. "Tommy fell asleep almost the second he sat down. There must be something about my brother's hat that makes people sleep."

"Yeah, maybe," Kimi muttered. Her eyes were focused on Edward and the three whiteboards behind him covered with strange symbols and equations. Phil understood all of it, every single thing that Edward said he understood. She doubted anyone else in the room could claim that, even the teachers.

Kimi looked quickly over to Phil who was laying back, his eyes shut again. Now that she knew that it was not real, she could see more clearly. Every now and again Phil's eyes would flicker open as if he was looking at the boards. He also did this strange scribbling with his finger on the chair's armrest.

"Have a missed anything?" Kimi asked, hoping to divert all further conversations away from her.

"About the lecture," Lil replied, putting her pen on her ear. "I didn't think you were interested in mathematics."

"I'm not," Kimi whispered, not wanting to put Edward off. "I mean anything interesting."

Lil put her finger on her chin. "Tommy's fell asleep, as you know, Phil wanted his cap back but Tommy wouldn't give it," she thought for a bit longer. "No, nothing else has happened. You were only gone five minutes, Kimi, what do you think would happen?"

"Anything about Edward?"

"The usual, he insulted us for not understanding, told some kids to shut up, limped around and confused everyone," Lil told her.

Kimi could tell Lil was suspicious. However, she had fallen for Kimi's trap. Now that she had brought up Edward, Lil would think something was going on there when there wasn't. She wondered how Lil would react to know her 'idiot' brother was smarter than her.

Kimi looked down the row again and saw something strange, Chuckie was asleep as well. "What the hell?" Kimi muttered and nudged Lil.

"What?" she asked. Kimi nodded.

Since Lil didn't know that Phil was pretending, it appeared that everyone other than her and Kimi was asleep. Lil chuckled. "There is no way Edward hasn't noticed that, so why hasn't he said anything?"

Kimi was pretty sure Edward had noticed, and not only that, figured out why. Wait, could Edward have known all along that Phil was faking it? Phil had the cap on his face usually so he couldn't see his eyes, but now it was off he probably could see. Kimi anticipated and long conversation with Edward after his teaching session was over.

[P]

Oh great, Phil moaned in his head. His eyes were shut and he heard everything going on around him. He doubted that Kimi would tell anyone, but he couldn't help but worry that his whole quiet life would be uprooted in one foul swoop. If Kimi admitted what happened to anyone, then there were two different things he could do. He could admit what he was and accept the life that would be forced down his throat, or say that Kimi was lying and make her look like a fool. He knew the second was not an option, even though she had insulted him and hurt him so badly that he had admitted something that he swore he wouldn't tell anyone.

He saw the way that Chuckie and Lil were pushed all the time, the teachers giving them constant homework to make the school look good when their final results came through. He enjoyed sleeping in lessons, he like lying on the grass outside when he should be inside studying. He could get through school with top marks like this, and he deliberately got the results he did, answering just enough so he only got Bs. Good, but not great, enough to be left alone.

He probably should have told his friends sooner, especially Tommy and Kimi, who had always been his closest friends. He had always felt a bit alone though, and kept it to himself. Chuckie and Tommy had been best friends since the crib, and so had Kimi and Lil. So unless he became Dil's twin again, he was the one without a best friend. That's the problem with a group of five; one does without a true best friend and unlike the films, it's impossible to have four best friends.

Kimi had tried to hurt his feelings that hurt the most. It wasn't what she said at all, it was what she was trying to do with her words. Kimi always thought that Phil was self conscious about his intelligence, and he deliberately gave the impression that, that was the case. He over planned things all the time and he ended up with a headache.

He had also made Kimi's life more difficult. Now he had given her something to think about when she was already upset that Edward would be leaving. However, there was an angry part of his head that thought that she deserved it, she should have ditched him for somebody she barely knew.

"There all asleep," Phil heard Lil chuckle. He hated keeping his eyes shut without his cap, but he couldn't open his eyes because he didn't want to feel awkward/make Kimi feel awkward.

Phil couldn't concentrate on what Edward was saying in the mood he was in, so he had been thinking about his life and trying not to plan. His new goal was to let things flow, not think about them. He was pragmatic by nature and that needed to change.

Thankfully, Lil hadn't mentioned anything about Phil and he hadn't heard a gasp or a chuckle in response to his name so he could only assume that he was right and Kimi had kept the information to herself.

Phil heard Edward say something about the final equation so he knew the lecture was coming to a close. He had break time afterward and all he wanted to do was sit and play on the computer. He made a mental note to ask Tommy and Chuckie to go to the computer lab. He knew Chuckie wouldn't refuse; he was so terrified of people picking on him.

After about five minutes of sitting in dark Phil felt an elbow in his side. It was Tommy, who had probably been woken up and this gave Phil a reason to wake up so Lil wouldn't be suspicious. "Come on dude, wake up!" Tommy said.

Phil hadn't been on his usual language translation, and was speaking how he thought. He had been too sad about Kimi ignoring him to continue translating in his head, but now he had to go back to how he always spoke. "Sorry, man," Phil said, opening his eyes slowly. The light blinded him for a few seconds.

"I thought you were the only one who wasn't tired," Tommy smiled.

"I thought so to," Phil shrugged. "Turns out an hour down here was enough to put me to sleep."

Phil was beginning to hate himself now. Thanks to Kimi, he felt guilty for lying to everyone. He couldn't think of an easy way to admit it without sounding like an arrogant ass, so he kept it to himself. Phil sighed again, he couldn't help but think about the future and today's effect on it.

Phil looked and saw Chuckie asleep as well. "I didn't know he was that tired," he remarked. "Do you want to wake him or can I?"

Tommy reached into his bag and pulled out a science book and a maths book. "I have an idea," he smirked. He crept up to Chuckie and slammed them together above his head, like symbols.

Chuckie almost shot out of his seat. "What the hell!" he shouted, looking from side to side, "What was that? What's going on?"

Phil almost died with laughter and collapsed back into his seat. "Nothing, Chuckie," Tommy said through tears. "It was just books."

"You know, that's not funny," he complained, crossing his arms.

Phil, Tommy and Chuckie filed out the opposite way. "Can we go to the computer lab this break?" Phil asked.

"I was going to anyway," Tommy said. "I am really behind on my I.T work."

"I don't like going outside anymore," Chuckie sighed. "Edward just may have made it worse for me, I don't want to give anyone a chance to get even."

"That settles it then," Tommy said. "Kimi, Lil," he called. "We'll see you at lunch at our usual table!"

"Ok then," Lil called back.

Phil met Kimi's eyes for a second. She looked both sad and confused. Phil was almost certain that she was feeling guilty for what she had said to him and he was now wishing she wouldn't. He had spoken down to her and told her what to do, and he knew exactly how much that bothered her. Being spoken down to by anyone was, to Kimi, the equivalent of being slapped in the face.

After about five minutes, the three of them reached the computer lab and sat down in the corner at the computers they always did. "We are pretty routine, aren't we," Chuckie commented.

"What do you mean?" Tommy asked.

"Well, we sit in the same spots every lecture, always sit at the same table, always use these computers and we always take my car to school," Chuckie listed.

"We'll stop scrounging off you when we get cars, Chuckie," Tommy replied, "if that's what this is about."

Phil wasn't listening, he was logging onto the computer on auto-pilot. Now that this happened he doubted he would ever be with Kimi. No, he wouldn't think about it! He was going to have a laugh with his friends today, and stop obsessing with the future, with being a doctor, with being with Kimi. He was wishing his life away and he needed to stop, you are only a kid once.

"You mind giving us a lift later, Chuckie," Phil joked.

"Phil, I don't mind, that's not what I was saying at all," Chuckie assured. "It's just we should try something new. We have been in high school together for a while now but everything is the same!"

[E]

Edward limped off the stage after collecting some of his papers and was met by Ingrid and Fillmore. "Another good lecture, Edward," Fillmore said after cleaning his glasses on his shirt. "Though, I do feel like only a few people in the room understand it."

"I'd say around four," Edward said, "but not including you two."

"There were three kids sleeping behind us," Ingrid chimed in. "Of all the words I have to describe you, boring is not one of them."

"Two."

"Excuse me," Ingrid said, raising an eyebrow.

"There were only two people sleeping," Edward told them. "The three people you saw, Ingrid, were Tommy Pickles, an average kid with a above average weirdo brother, Chuckie Pickles, one of the four that understands what I said, and Phil Deville. Phil was not asleep."

"Now that you mention it," Fillmore mused around. "When I turned to look at him his eyes were flickering."

"That's what I saw as well," Edward concurred.

"Hold on a second," Ingrid said. "Why would he pretend to be asleep? Is he above or below this average line you have drawn?"

"You're asking a lot of questions today, Ingrid," Edward mocked, "perhaps you're losing your touch."

"Just answer my question," Ingrid said sternly.

Edward rolled his shoulders back; he was really stiff today from waking up early. "From what I can figure out, and that's usually quite a lot," he raised his hand to stop Ingrid from making some comment about his arrogance, "Phil is by far, the smartest person from this school."

"What led you to that conclusion?" Fillmore asked.

Edward smiled, certain he was right. "I have had my suspicions for a while. The first sign was that I really had to examine his movements and put on a good face when we played poker, it wasn't as easy to beat him as I had let on," Edward explained.

"He made you think," Fillmore laughed. "That's actually quite impressive."

"Yes," Edward said. "Then I noticed that he always wore that cap on his face. If he was going to sleep, why would he need it?"

"Too bright?" Ingrid suggested.

Edward shook his head. "It's not that," he told her. "It's more to do with he didn't like shutting his eyes for that long, so he could have his eyes open and still look like he was asleep. Phil has been listening to every word of the lecture and taking it in better than anyone else. I'd like to meet his parents, because his sister: that cheerleader Lil girl is smart as well."

"How do you know he is taking it in better than anyone else?"

"I'm not certain about that yet, but he is definitely taking it in, I see him writing the equations with his finger on the chair," Edward told them. "I think he told Kimi today, because Kimi looked upset and Phil did to." There was a long pause. "I might have a word with him about the lectures."

"Why?"

"You know me," Edward said. "I need to know exactly what's going on and more importantly, I need to know whether or not I'm right. I think he has gone the computer room of this school," he headed off, "later."

Edward could feel Ingrid and Fillmore sharing a look on his behalf.

[E-later]

Edward opened the door to the computer room and saw the three of them on games. He got the feeling that they were supposed to be doing work but he played games on computers as well. "Hey, Phil Deville," he called. The whole room looked to him. "Can I have a word?"

Phil looked at Tommy and raised his eyebrow. Tommy just shrugged and gestured for him to go. Phil stood up. "What do you want, Edward?" he asked, in a hostile way.

Edward looked at Phil, he looked quite strong, but if he got violent (which Edward doubted but he had to consider it), Edward could take him on easily. "I just want a word about the lectures." Phil frowned suspiciously. "Though, if I'm right, you might want to do it in private."

Phil walked through the door that Edward held open the minute he said that, and Edward could see how anxious Phil was. "What do you want to know then?" Phil asked as Edward got out the door. Phil was leaning on the wall.

"I know about your little secret, Phil," Edward faked a smile. Phil stiffened. "Don't worry, I'm not being nasty or hostile, I just wanted a chat."

Phil seemed to loosen up after that, but he still looked very suspicious of Edward. "I know the truth about your intellect."

"What are you talking about?" Phil said instantly, but he looked over his shoulder. This made Edward smile, he was right, and he really loved being right.

"I know that you might well be the smartest in the school, I know that you understand all about multi-dimensional particle oscillation, I also know that you told Kimi today," Edward listed.

Phil sighed and thought for a second. "Fuck it," he said. "Did Kimi tell you?"

"No, she didn't, she kept true to your word."

"Oh, you figured that out as well," Phil mocked. "Not surprised, I could have done."

"So you have been keeping everything down low," Edward said. "Wanted the easy life did you? Did you want to be left alone?" Phil nodded briskly. "I'm like that too, so I refuse to do anything for people."

"Well, unlike you, I care about being kicked out of school," Phil replied. "I would be too scared to argue with a professor. I would hate to be kicked out of the most prestigious university in the world at the age you were."

"Checked my Wikipedia page did you?"

"I did," Phil said. "I was just looking at it before you came in. Who wrote it?"

"I have several stalkers at my old school," Edward told him. "As well as my chums on the internet, like your friend Chuckie, seem to catalogue my life."

Phil didn't reply.

"Do you like Kimi, Phil?" Edward asked. This was his next question. He would usually tell Kimi, but he was too in love with her to risk his short relationship. He didn't know this feeling could develop so quickly so strongly, but he wouldn't risk it for anyone, certainly someone who had been lying to everyone his whole life.

"Why?" Phil said. This confirmed Edward's suspicions more than a real answer. "Are you jealous Edward?"

"Not at all, just wondering."

"No, for your information," Phil said. "I have girlfriend, her name's Nat."

"Oh," Edward said. He was stepping on thin ice now, if he pushed Phil too much then he might cause Phil to admit his feelings to Kimi and ruin anything, and it would be his fault. "That's something else then." Edward turned and walked off.

"What, is that it?" Phil called back.

Edward ignored him and turned down the next corridor. He got out his phone and texted Fillmore and Ingrid with three words: "I was right."

[C]

Chuckie sat and took notes in maths. It was the last lesson of the day and it had been a long one indeed. Everyone was behaving strange and most people were tired and he was sure that the two things were linked together. Phil and Kimi were behaving the weirdest, there was definitely something going on between those two.

Phil, Tommy and Chuckie had been in the lunchroom, at their table, talking about a new Fallout 3 update that they had bought last week and were racing to see who could complete it first. Then, as promised earlier in the lecture, Kimi and Lil turned up. Phil looked over and had this strange, anxious look his eye. He then basically ran off saying he had forgotten homework. Phil didn't care about school and he certainly didn't get scared about homework.

Chuckie just shook his head when he thought about it, it wasn't his business and he didn't pry into friends life. Unlike, he felt, everyone else in their little friend group did. He learnt his lesson after he almost lost his friend trying to stop Kimi from getting with Tommy even when they weren't planning to. He had been such an idiot then.

"Finster," his evil maths teacher said in that menacing voice she had. Her name was Mrs. Charles, and it was fitting she had a mans name as her surname as she had a moustache. She always tried to catch Chuckie out. Maybe it was because they had the same names, sort of, or maybe it was she hated him for being smart. "What is the integration of X squared plus the cube of X with an arbitrary constant of 8." Chuckie loved how she tried to trick him by making the question harder just for him.

"The answer of the indefinite integral equation is X cubed over three plus X to the power four and X with a co-efficient of 8." This was about as rebellious as Chuckie could get, he answered the question in harder language than necessary, in an effort to confuse the teacher.

After she admitted that he had answered the question correctly Chuckie got back to his thoughts.

The bell rang about five minutes later and Chuckie put his books away and got out as quickly as possible. His phone buzzed the second he got out of the door. It was Tommy, "me and Phil are waiting Chuckie, move ur butt!" Chuckie chuckled to himself and made for the exit.

Chuckie almost made it out the door when he bumped into Kimi. "Hi Chuckie," she smiled.

"Hello Kimi, did you have a nice day," he asked.

Kimi paused for a second. "Yeah, it was the same as always," she told him. "You?"

"Mrs. Charles tried to get at me again," Chuckie smiled. "I did my usual pseudo sarcastic response!"

"You're such a rebel Chuckie," Kimi muttered sarcastically.

"Anyway," Chuckie said. "Do you need a lift?"

"No, Edward's taking me out," she explained. "Actually, it's a good think I bumped into you, could you let mom and dad know I'll be back around nine."

"Yeah sure," Chuckie said. "See you; I need to give Tommy and Phil a lift."

"Ok," Kimi said, and walked the other way.

Chuckie opened the door and saw Phil and Tommy leaning on his car in the distance. He walked as quickly as possible through the car park, hearing people shout "Nerd Faggot" across it. He did his best to ignore them, but he wished they would die sometimes, making him feel intimidated all the time. It wasn't like him at all, but sometimes the fear just got the better of him.

"Come on then, Chuckie," Phil said. "Let's get home, today has been too long."

"Yeah," Tommy said, "I just want to go home and sleep."

End of Chapter 16

Woot! I broke the 40,000 words boundary. Now, if you do a search in the fanfiction to filter, I am in the next boundary. Thanks again to my reviewers. I hope you enjoyed this chapter.


	18. Chapter 17: MidWeek Madness

Author's note: Sorry, but there was something I missed out from Tuesday, so this chapter will start from the end of Tuesday and go into Wednesday. I hope you liked the last chapter, it was twice as long as usual and it feels great to be among the top 13 longest fanfiction. This chapter is a reflection of the story, and the characters going through their lives with each-other.

Anyway, let's get on with it. Enjoy! I don't know if you have noticed, but my chapters are longer than usual, that's because I have so much I have to resolve. This is the longest one person section in the whole story. Wednesday is going to be much shorter than Tuesday. Only Thursday and Friday left till Edward leaves.

Chapter 17: Mid-Week Madness

[T]

Tommy was walking with a spring in his step as he headed for Lil's this Tuesday night. He had caught four hours sleep at home and had woken half an hour in advance. It was half eight and he was due at nine, so he had some free time to himself. He was heading to a nearby shop to buy some chocolate-Lil's favourite guilty pleasure.

He pushed open the door, this was a corner shop so it didn't have automatic doors, and walked in. "Hi Tommy," the man at the counter, Mr. Arnold, said. He came in here often before Chuckie picked him up and Didi knew him.

"Hi Mr. Arnold," Tommy said as he rummaged through the shop and grabbed a bar of chocolate and a packet of chewing gum from the counter.

"Is that all?" he asked as usual when Tommy passed him the items and he scanned them.

"Yes thanks," Tommy said. Tommy wasn't entirely sure why Mr. Arnold asked that question as he was too young for anything behind the counter, but nevertheless he always answered and was too polite to ask.

Tommy left the room and walked over to Lil's now just trying to kill the time before he reached it. He checked his watch again; it was eight thirty six now, twenty four long minutes before he got to meet up with Lil again. The time was starting to get to him when he was struck with a thought.

Why was Chuckie staying up all night, what was he really doing? Maybe he had a girlfriend… no, that makes no sense, Chuckie would have told him.

Tommy looked up and realised that the one thought had carried him all the way to Lil's house. She was leaning out the window, smiling at him. "I didn't want to distract you," she said, "you looked so deep in thought."

Tommy couldn't help but notice how much like a film star she looked, it was quite windy and her hair was being thrown to the side. "I was," he told her.

"What about," she asked, following him with her eyes as he made for the door.

"I'll tell you when I get in," Tommy said, as he pushed on the door open.

Betty and Howard were sitting on the sofa watching t.v. "Tommy!" Betty exclaimed to him and almost jumped out of the chair. Everything Betty seemed to say ended with an exclamation mark, without fail. "It greats to see you, great to see you. Isn't it Howard?"

Howard, the somewhat small man, stood up and nodded. "Yeah, hello Tommy," he said and smiled politely.

"You to Betty and Howard," Tommy smiled. He never called them by Mr. and Mrs. Deville and Betty would probably flair him alive if he did, she had said once that it made her sound like an old couple.

"Are you here to work again?" Betty asked. "Or are you here to be with Phil?"

"Lil again," Tommy nodded. "We've nearly finished now, should be done by Friday."

"That's good to hear!" Betty said.

"When's it due?" Howard asked.

"Umm…" Tommy couldn't remember when, he was only really concerned with seeing Lil, the project definitely came second to that. "You know," Tommy said and scratched his head. "I'm not really sure, I'll ask Lil. But I do know that if we hand it in Monday it will be early."

"Fantastic, Tommy-my-boy," Betty said. "Well, I leave you two kids to it. Come on Howee, let's see what happens on Judge Judy then."

"Ok, dear," Howard said, and sat back down on the chair. Betty vaulted over it and landed beside it. "See you later Tommy."

"Bye," he said, and went up the stairs.

Tommy and the Devilles had always been close, and Tommy spent a lot of time over here in the holiday. Tommy couldn't help but think that he was drifting away from Phil, or maybe Phil was drifting away from him. Since the start of high school Kimi and Phil spent the most time together, but now it seems, since Kimi was with Edward, Phil was alone. He made a mental note to meet up with Phil some time.

Tommy looked through Phil's door, he wasn't there. "Hey Lil," Tommy called. "Where's Phil?"

Lil poked her head out of her door. "Is he not there?" Lil asked, and Tommy shook his head. "No idea then."

Tommy just waved in the direction of Phil and made for Lil's room. After they had sat down Tommy found himself instantly bored. "It's funny how much things have changed since middle school, isn't it Tommy?" Lil said out of the blue.

"Yeah," Tommy frowned. "Where did that come from?"

"Well, I was thinking," Lil said. There was something off about Lil's voice, she sounded, almost… sad? "We used to all be best friends, we were together all of the time, without fail, but now…" she left the sentence hanging.

"We still are," Tommy told her. "We spend time together. It's just that Kimi spends a lot of time with Edward now, not us. Chuckie has to work on chess a lot so he can win his first trophy."

"What about Phil?"

"I don't know about Phil, I just don't see him as much outside of school, he's always on the Xbox," Tommy explained. He shook his head. "Anyway, guess where I was this afternoon?"

"In bed?" Lil asked. "I have to admit, I was asleep a few minutes before you got here."

"I was asleep, but not in bed," Tommy said. Lil raised her eyebrow, signalling to continue after a pause. "I was in the tree fort! I went to sit up there and just fell asleep."

"I used to love it up there," Lil mused. "I'm still surprised we were able to build it."

"Yeah, well we were just little kids back then," Tommy replied. "If only we knew that you and Chuckie would turn out so God-damned smart."

Lil winked at him. "Can you keep a secret, Tommy?" Lil asked, her voice again hush and serious.

"Yeah."

"Well, I think that my brother is in love," she said.

"They have only been together for three days," Tommy told her, "don't you think it's a bit soon."

Lil rested her head on her hand. "That's just the thing," Lil replied. "I don't think he's in love with Nat, but someone else."

"Who?"

"Kimi," Lil said bluntly.

Tommy leaned back on his chair. "Why do you think that?" he asked, not entirely sure what to say. If that was true, then it could lead to some serious problems.

"Well, I think that explains why he has been so different lately," she said. "He's jealous, Edward and Kimi are so close and, no offence, but my brother's not bright, he can't compare to Edward. Edward's well off, handsome and rich."

"Steady on," Tommy said, not liking the idea of Lil drooling over Edward as well. It was bad enough that Kimi was. It seemed that everything wanted to split the group up somehow. Piece by piece they were falling apart, and everything seemed to point back to Edward and Lil. "I don't think Phil's stupid."

"Not stupid," Lil corrected. "Just not above average."

Tommy didn't reply, he would say anything nasty against his friends, but he agreed with what Lil was saying. "He has a girlfriend," Tommy reasoned.

"Yeah, I might not be right," Lil said. There was a pause between the next conversation.

"Anyway," Tommy said before this became a slag-off-Phil session. "We still do spend time together as a group, since we got to high school."

"Yeah, once," Lil said, scribbling down some notes and looking over their work so far. "When we all hung out at the pool," she looked up to check she was right. Tommy nodded. "That was a good night."

"Yeah, it was," Tommy agreed. "It's a shame that it is a getting to winter now, the pool will start freezing soon. The only time Chuckie and Kimi are outside is when they eat when their parents are out."

The night drew on quickly, too quickly for Tommy's liking. For every second that went by in Tommy's mind a minute went by in the real world. Tommy loved being with Lil, the feeling that he had literally doubled whenever they saw each other. In a way it was a good thing that it was seldom, otherwise he would be obsessed with her.

Tommy checked his watch; it was ten to eleven. Only ten minutes left until he had to leave. Tommy heard the door open. "I'm home mom," a voice shouted.

"Where were you, Phillip?" he heard Betty ask.

"Just felt like a walk," he responded.

"Oh, by the way, Tommy's here with your sister."

"Oh," Phil replied. "Hi Tommy!" he bellowed.

"Hi Phil!"

"Cor blimey Phil," Betty moaned. "You're going to burst my eardrums. Go on, go upstairs and don't forget your homework. Oh what am I saying, you don't forget do you, you deliberately don't do it!" Tommy heard her laugh.

Tommy heard Phil chuckle and the heavy sound of his footsteps up the stairs. A second later he poked his head around the door. "Hi Tommy, sis," he said, nodding respectively to the two of them.

"'Sup Phil," Tommy said. "Where were you?"

"Just went on a walk," Phil said.

"You've been doing that for a while now," Lil muttered.

Tommy checked his watch, he had five minutes but he doubted he would get any time alone with Lil today. "I've got to go," Tommy said. "I doubt my parents will let me come over again if I was late."

"Alright then, Tommy," Lil said. "We've nearly finished now, I'll see you later."

"In a bit man," Phil said, letting Tommy pass through the door. "I'll see you out."

Tommy and Phil walked down the stairs together and Tommy opened the door. "Have you been alright, Phil?" he asked. He wondered how Phil would respond to this question, as it would answer quite a lot.

"Yeah, I've been fine," Phil said, his voice sounded sincere, at least. "Why do you ask?"

"Nothing really," Tommy replied. "You have just looked down, I suppose."

"Nope," Phil repeated. "I'm fine. Anyway, I'll see you later, in the car tomorrow and then the lecture."

"Yeah," Tommy said, and stepped out the door. "Bye Phil," he said, and shut the door behind him.

[P]

Phil was lying on his bed playing call of duty. Tommy had left about twenty minutes ago and now he was on the microphone, talking to Chuckie. Phil had heard in maths, from a computer nerd he sat next to, that Edward was going to issue a test tomorrow, to all of the people selected and anyone who wished to take it.

"Damn, Chuckie you took my kill again," Phil complained. Chuckie was much better at the game than Phil, but then he obsessed with the game along with all the games. "So, how is that console?"

Phil knew exactly what was going on. The only reason Chuckie would lie to them all was if: number 1, it was a girl and number 2, it was a girl that was shocking to them. Heck, it could be a guy. Chuckie had never shown any signs of being that way inclined but you never know.

"It's good."

"Then why aren't you on it now?" he asked, he had him now.

"For goodness sake," Chuckie moaned, "why is all of this so important to everyone, why does everyone care so much that I got a game mod?"

"You know as well as I do that no one believes that there is a mod, Chuckie. You've been modding games all of your life and still you go to bed at eleven thirty every night. It's strange that you are even up now."

"Since when did you become Sherlock Holmes?" Chuckie muttered into the microphone.

"Hey, why don't you two faggots shut the fuck up?" a random English boy shouted into the microphone. "We don't give a shit about your life!"

"Mute us then," Phil argued.

"Fuck you!" the guy said.

Phil muted him. "Chuckie, just mute him, I can't be bothered arguing today."

"You say I've changed," Chuckie chuckled and muted the random, troll flamer. "Anyway, I just have been feeling the stress lately and got sucked into the game. The chess combined with the lectures and all the exams."

"Well, adding to your stresses," Phil said sarcastically into the microphone, "we have an exam tomorrow. Not only is it an exam, it's an exam from Edward to see where we all are."

"Great," Chuckie said. "I need to get off to bed then." Phil heard Chuckie rustle around his room. "See you later, Phil," Chuckie said.

"Bye Chuckie," Phil said. "OH, and by the way, before you go." Phil almost felt Chuckie's ears prick up. "I don't believe any of that crap about stress and getting away from it."

"Right," Chuckie chuckled. "Goodbye."

"Also Chuckie," Phil said. "I think I'm going to take the exam tomorrow."

It was too late, Chuckie had already signed off. Phil smiled; he had made up his mind for sure now. He was going to take the exam.

[P-The Next Day]

Phil stretched out in the car. It was late in the morning and he, Tommy and Chuckie were on their way to school. Chuckie had been looking over all of his notes so that he did well. He hated not getting an A in a normal exam, but this was much bigger than a normal exam and Phil was pretty sure that Chuckie knew that Edward would tell everyone the results of the exam. Dil was also in the car, though he was sitting crossed legged and meditating.

The drive to school was a quiet one. Tommy knew about the test and was being quiet so that Chuckie could revise. Little did he know, Phil was running through the answers in his head. They reached then school and trudged out of the car. "Are you ready then?" Tommy asked.

"I'm not sure," Chuckie said, Phil could hear it in his voice that he was starting to stress out, and there was a small bead of sweat running down the side of this face. "I hate the pressure, Tommy."

Maybe Chuckie was telling the truth, or, at least, half of the truth. "You'll do fine Chuckie," Tommy, the born leader, reassured him. "Don't worry about it!"

"Phil, do you know what's going to happen?" Chuckie asked. "Did Fred" the nerd that told him "say anything else?"

"All he said was that the people selected and whoever else wanted to participate, could do," Phil explained. "Edward's going to let everyone know today and take us off to a classroom."

"Us?" Tommy asked.

"Well, I don't know," Phil quickly said. "Will he just let the people who aren't doing it go, or not? No idea."

"That's true," Tommy mused as they walked into the halls. All of the kids knew about the test now, the ones who were involved all looked nervous as they walked into the hall and made for their seats. Kimi and Lil were already sitting at the usual area.

Kimi turned around as they all walked into the room and looked him right in the eye. He didn't break her stare for a while until he could look no longer. Today was the day, today was when he would stop lying and finally tell the truth. He had never felt bad until Kimi, she had changed him. Whether the change was good or bad was definitely up to interpretation.

After about five minutes everyone was quiet and one could feel the suspense building slowly up. Edward probably could anticipate this, and was deliberately taking ages to walk out. When he finally did, he had a half smile on his face. "So, no doubt you all know what's planned for today," he said and sat down at a chair on the stage and took a long drink out of the water bottle in his hand. "All of the people selected today will take a test so I know how much you've learnt. Basically, it will show me how smart you all are."

"This is not just for the kids who were chosen, however," Edward continued. There were some mutterings around the room; obviously some of the children in the room had not heard this part of the idea. Phil leaned forward in his chair. Edward turned and looked Phil straight in the eye. "Anyone who wishes to, I don't know, prove themselves, can also take this test, though I am aware most of you are here to skive lessons."

"Well," Edward said in conclusion. "Can everyone who is going, that includes the people who have to go, raise you hands."

Phil looked around the room; he saw Chuckie and Lil raise their hands, as well as Dil. Then, slowly, Phil raised his hands. "Dude," Tommy and Dil said in unison, "what are you doing?"

Phil just ignored them. "Ok then," Edward said, clapping his hands together. "Everyone follow me to the back of the room."

Phil got up and ignored Kimi's agape mouth. He walked past her to the end of the row. "What are you doing?" she whispered. "Are you deciding to let everyone know?"

Phil turned and looked her in the eye again. Then he smiled quickly and said: "No more lies, Kimi," and followed Dil down the row.

"Phil, seriously dude," Dil reasoned with him as they headed up the row. "What are you doing, you hate physics, and you hate exams. So why are you volunteering for both of them?"

"I just want to try it, Dil," Phil said. "So that's the end of it."

"Ok dude," Dil smiled and nodded. "That's fine, though it's an hour long and probably really boring."

Phil followed Edward down to a deserted classroom; the papers were already laid out on the tables. "Go to the paper with your name on," Edward instructed them, bending his knee and grimacing. "I've already set up where you sit."

Phil was about to open his mouth to let Edward know that he wasn't supposed to be here when he looked down at a paper and, sure enough, there was a paper lying on a desk in the far corner with a name written on it: "Phil Deville".

Edward knew the whole time that Phil was going to take that test. He knew that Fred would tell Phil, and he knew that Phil would rise to the challenge to show everyone. He had planned everything out, the conversation as well. Phil had become part of some sort of plan.

Damn him!

[T]

Tommy and Lil were sitting on the front garden lawn of Lil's house. They had already done enough work today and Tommy still had twenty minutes left. It was dark but the streetlight gave them enough light to see each other and the stars. It was a full moon and it hung in the sky like a giant, watching them with glee.

"I don't understand it Tommy," Lil moaned. "I don't get why Phil would do it, what could he possibly gain other than humiliation?"

"Did he sleep in it or did he actually do it?" Tommy asked.

"That's the weirdest thing," Lil explained, looking up into the sky as she remembered. Tommy looked at her, the moonlight made her look perfect, her eyes reflected the light as well as her hair giving her a strange, silver tint. He felt like he was stuck in some fifties love song and you know what, that was fine for him! "He answered it, and finished it before any of us. Maybe he was being stupid and skiving lessons, but he seemed to be writing a lot."

"Well, you said Edward was going to read out the results, so if Phil did badly then everyone will know. Why would he volunteer himself for that?" Lil looked down as she thought, getting some hair in her eye.

Tommy smiled and pushed it gently out of her face with the back of his hand. Lil looked up and looked into his eyes. "Don't worry about it," he said.

Lil realised what was going on and coughed awkwardly, she moved her face away from Tommy's hand. "I just don't want to see my brother laughed at."

"Maybe he won't be," Tommy joked.

"Maybe," Lil said, sarcastically.

End of Chapter 17

This is one of my favourite chapters to write, and I can feel everything coming to a conclusion. So can anyone offer any predictions about how it's going to end? Rate, review, alert, favourite!


	19. Chapter 18: Revealed

Author's note: I can't make any promises, but this will probably be the second to last chapter. I hope you enjoy it and make sure that you review; can all of my readers review please? I'd love to know how you all think.

Chapter 18: Revealed

[K]

"Edward, can you pick me up this morning?" Kimi left the message on the answer phone of his mobile. Edward had sent her a text earlier that he was in a meeting but Kimi didn't believe it. Edward was the kind of person that would take his phone out in front of people just to piss them off.

"Do you need a lift off me then?" came a voice from behind her. She turned and saw Chuckie in the doorway. "It feels like forever since I took you to school."

"Would you?" she asked. "Edward won't pick up."

"He's probably gone back to sleep," Chuckie mused. "He must have been up marking all of the papers. I wonder how I did. In fact, I wonder how Phil did, that should be interesting. He probably put loads of ridiculous answers hoping they would be read out. Or something like that."

"Maybe," Kimi muttered. She was so anxious, and that was the real reason she wanted to ride with Edward today; she wanted to know exactly how well he had done. She wanted to know whether she had beaten Lil or Dil or Chuckie, even beating one of them it would be impressive. Those three were so close it was impossible to tell the difference. "Maybe he did well."

"Phil," Chuckie smiled. "He doesn't care about maths, he has always hated school."

Kimi looked at the ground for a second. "Yeah," she said. "Yeah, I suppose you're right." She shook her head. "Anyway, do you want to go and pick up Tommy and Phil now?"

Chuckie checked his watch. "Yeah, that's about the right time," he looked up. "Have you got everything?" he asked.

"Yep," she said and shook her bag on her shoulder to show him. "To the car," she said, and valiantly pointed to the door.

[K-later]

The car felt cramped today. Only Phil, Chuckie, Tommy, Dil and Kimi were in it but the awkwardness between Phil and Kimi meant that there was a brick wall cramped into it. "Kimi," Tommy greeted as he got in. "I haven't seen you in this car for ages. Why aren't you going in with Edward?"

"He isn't picking up his phone," Kimi explained. "He is probably asleep or finishing off the papers. Besides, it's nice to be back as the four of us again, isn't it?"

"Yeah, the papers," Tommy said and looked at Phil, "we get the results today don't we Phil. Have you left some little jokes for Edward to read out?"

Phil was looking out of the window, focused on the drops of water that started to drop from the sky. It was a fitting day for it to rain. Phil half chuckled when he heard Tommy's remark. Kimi was the only one who knew the truth, so everyone else must think that he was making a joke. Daft old Phil at it again, as it were.

"It had to rain," Kimi remarked, waving half heartedly out of the window. She was trying to draw the attention away from Phil as a way of apology for calling him an idiot, for trying to hurt him.

"Wow, we must be boring," Tommy laughed, "we've started talking about the weather!"

The car pulled up in the carpark and Kimi pulled her coat over her head, this one didn't have a hood. Phil pulled off his hoodie and handed it to her. "Here," he said, still looking out of the window. "It's got a hood."

"Are you sure, Phil?"

"Positive," he said, and looked at her for the first time. "Just take it."

"Thank you, Phil," she said and took the jacket off him. It was big, warm and odourless, oddly enough. Phil usually wore deodorant; he probably didn't care about that today though. She pulled it on and pulled the hood over her head. "I look like Kenny," she laughed.

"Don't die mind, Kimi," Chuckie warned. "If the people around here get hold of you, you aren't coming back."

They ran across the yard into the school as fast as possible, not wanting to sit in wet clothes through an hour long talk. Everyone else was doing the same so they were being crushed by the juniors and seniors. When they had finally got to their seats, they found Edward waiting for them, dry as a bone.

"Looking wet," he commented. "Is it raining?"

"Get on with it!" a voice from the crowd shouted. "We want to know how well we did."

Edward chuckled. "Everyone did alright. Though, six people stood out. So these top six will be mentioned in ascending order with their percentage. Let's make this a bit like American idol, but without the talentless wannabee morons. Actually, for the most part, it is like American Idol."

"In sixth place, with 79%," Edward looked around the room. "Maxwell Graves." Kimi looked back and saw a sickly kid looking miserable. He looked up at his name but it didn't change his face. There was a round of applause, started by the teachers. He wasn't from her school though; he was from Washington High School.

"In fifth place," Edward paused again. "With 82% we have Jack Griffin." There was another round of applause. Kimi didn't know who this was but she knew he didn't attend her school either. She was now wondering if any of her friends had got into the top four, as, by the look of the last two, they were seniors.

"In fourth place, with 89%," Edward cleared his throat. Everyone was leaning forward in her seat, especially the principle of Kimi's school, hoping at least one of her students had made it in. "Dil Pickles of middle school." Edward laughed. "Most of you got beaten by someone in middle school, you must be so proud." There was a big round of applause for Dil, because of his age.

"Well done, bro," Tommy said and hi-fived him.

"What can I say? The aliens gave me some of their brains!"

"As you should have figured out, the three tops were all in the 90% and up range, and this is at university level. I can assure you no cheating went on, and these papers have been marked and checked by another marker with the answer sheet and only myself and an impartial marker has had contact with the sheet." Edward paused and looked down the list. "In third place," he said in a deliberately dramatic voice, "we have, with 91% Lillian Deville." There was a big cheer for Lil, mostly from the school's teachers from making them look good. "Yeah yeah," he said sarcastically, "well done Lil."

Kimi saw Tommy hug Lil. "Well done Lil!" she whispered across and Lil smiled broadly and gave thumbs up.

Chuckie leaned over to Kimi, "I didn't think I would get into the top six anyway," Chuckie muttered, but he sounded quite sad.

"In second place, is another from this school!" Kimi swore that she heard the head teacher mutter: "yes!" "With a very high 94%, is Charles or Chuckie Finster." Another cheer came from the teachers, and Kimi hugged her brother.

"I don't believe it," Chuckie said, his mouth agape. "I don't believe it."

"Well done Chuckie!" Lil and Tommy said together.

"That's amazing, Chuckie," Kimi said. "My brother, the genius."

Kimi looked at Phil through the corner of her eye. She felt bad for him, he must be crushed from this. "Ok, Ok," Edward said, quietening them all down. "Now, this last paper was perfect, it achieved one hundred percent, something only I got when I took it." Edward paused. Kimi saw all of the kids from the private schools leaning forward, so sure one of them had got it. They were probably right, of course, the privileged bastards. Edward laughed. "I'm not shocked, but you all will be." Edward looked at the paper again. "The person who got one hundred percent in this room was none other than Phillip Deville." The whole room went silent; a pin could be heard to drop. "The one who wasn't even invited to this lecture, I'll let you think about that." Edward fell back into the chair behind him.

"What!" someone shouted out, clearly outraged. "That's impossible!"

"That's right," a rich child called. "He must have cheated."

"No cheating occurred," Edward assured them, looking down his nose at Phil. "I made sure of that, myself."

Everyone looked straight at Phil, all of his friends, strangers who didn't know him. Kimi was right, he was much smarter than Chuckie and Lil, he got the same mark as Edward, and he hadn't revised at all. Lil's eyes were wide. "Phil," she said.

Phil was looking at his knees. After a few seconds of suffering the glares, he stood up and walked down the row with his head looking ahead. "I told you, Kimi," as he walked past. "No more lies."

"Phil…" Tommy said, "Phil got full marks. Phil is a genius."

They all looked at him with equal confusion as he left the room.

[C]

"I can't find him anywhere, Tommy," Chuckie said to Tommy and Kimi. They were sitting outside the school on the field, waiting for any information. "Phil's disappeared."

"He doesn't want to be found," Kimi explained. "He's probably worried what we all will think." Kimi sighed. "He told me yesterday."

"Told you what?" Tommy asked.

Chuckie was as confused as Tommy. "He told me how smart he was," Kimi said, lying back onto the ground. "I called him an idiot, but not in the way we usually do," she said before Tommy and Chuckie laughed. "I was trying to hurt his feelings."

"Why?" Chuckie asked. Knowing Kimi, she probably misunderstood what Phil was saying and ranted at him in anger. She should, even though she was his sister, keep her mouth shut sometimes.

Kimi opened her mouth to explain when her phone rang. "Hello?" Kimi said. "Oh, hi Edward," her voice was suddenly happy and up beat. "Yeah, we're down on the field, can you see us." There was another pause. "Ok then, I'll see you in a second."

"Anyway," she said, after hanging up the phone. "I thought he was talking down to me, I lost my temper. I said sorry!" she reassured them as they looked to the floor.

"Is there any way Phil could have cheated?" Chuckie asked. "Or maybe cooked something up with Edward?" Chuckie liked Phil, but he just couldn't accept that the Phil that he knew was smarter than he was, he wasn't arrogant it just didn't make any sense!

"Why?" Kimi challenged. "Don't you think he's smart enough?" Chuckie didn't respond. "Anyway," she said, nodding behind Chuckie and smiling, "you can ask Edward, he's coming."

Chuckie turned and saw Edward limping toward them, cane in hand, and long, leather jacket brushing back in the wind. Great, Chuckie thought, as if I wasn't uprooted enough. Chuckie still didn't like Edward, he still didn't think he was good enough for Kimi. Kimi jumped up and kissed him as he came over. Chuckie bit down on his lip so hard it almost bled at the sight.

"So, Edward," Tommy said after a silence took hold of them. "Could Phil have cheated."

"I've answered that about fifty times today, mostly to your head teacher and the maths teachers," he told Tommy gruffly. "No, there is absolutely no way that Phil could have cheated. Just in case any of the people, namely you Chuckie, were any good at computers, I didn't put anything on computers. Speaking of which, Tommy…"

"Yes?"

"Your brother is getting some sort of award for his intelligence, they are also thinking of moving him up to your year starting November, but he is refusing," Edward explained. "They want you there to talk him into it, so I was sent to get you. Oh, and Chuckie, they are thinking of moving you up some grades as well." Edward scratched his head. "So basically, can you all come with me?"

"What about me?" Kimi asked.

"We can have a chat," Edward said, "come along."

"Ok."

Chuckie was irate now, not only that, he was scared. Moving him up into either Junior or Senior could spell real trouble for him. Most of his bullies were in higher years so he barely had to associate with them, but now he could be put right in front of them. Oh God, he thought.

[T]

Tommy was standing in the office. Dil was sitting, cross legged with his shoes off, on the couch at the edge of the room. Edward and three teachers were there along with Edward's head teacher: Principle Folsom. "I really don't see why I have to be here," Edward complained. "If he doesn't want to take it, then he doesn't want to."

"Silence, Edward," his principle said. She was a large women, with terrifying eyes and reminded Tommy of the White Witch in the Narnia books. "We have to be here because you issued that test, and it was a real paper."

"That is true," Tommy's head teacher said. "Tommy, your brother performed better than most people above his age. There is no way that he can stay at his old school; they will just drag him down. This school is a top school, it will help him excel."

"I can't do anything, sir," Tommy told him.

"We've called your parents to come have a chat," the principle informed him, "though maybe you could talk to him outside before they get here. I have other things to deal with. I am amazed that four of my students did so well, but it is sure bringing a lot of trouble on me."

Tommy patted Dil on the shoulder, "come on then," he whispered.

Dil opened his eyes and hopped off the couch. He pulled his shoes on and walked out. "Thank you sirs and mistress," he said as he left. Tommy couldn't tell whether he was being sarcastic or not.

Outside the room, in the waiting area, were familiar faces: Phil, Lil and Chuckie. Tommy was about to say something to Phil when he heard a shout from inside the head teacher's office. "Johnson, I know Phil Deville," he shouted. "He's not academic, he's stupid, he must have cheated."

"He didn't, I looked over it," a timid voice said. "Edward made sure that no one else had access to the paper before the test, not even me. There were teachers in the room watching, the only way Phil got one hundred percent was out of his own mind."

"Phil Deville," Principle Folsom said. "He's the one who was sleeping in the lectures with his cap over his face, wasn't he."

"I'll get him in," the principle said, and looked out of the door.

"This is why he never told anyone!" Edward chimed in before the door opened.

"Phil Deville," Phil looked up, "in here. Now!"

Phil got up and walked into the room. After the door closed behind him the inevitable gossip almost erupted. "So, it's true then," Tommy said; the first to speak. "Did he say anything whilst he was out here?"

"Yeah," Lil said, "he was speaking a bit more. He told us that he was sorry for lying to everyone, and he would explain in more detail why he did it when he came out."

"Why do you think he did?" Dil asked; now back in his mediation position with one eye open.

"No idea," Chuckie, Tommy and Lil more or less said in unison.

[P]

Phil sat in chair in front of the head teacher's desk, listening to each of them. "What happened then, Phil," the principle said, he had a list of Phil's grades in front of him. "You can understand why we are wary, can't you?"

Phil had only been in there a minute. "Yes, I can," he said, sitting up.

"You left middle school with straight B grades," he continued. "Mr Fredrick, your maths teacher, says that you fall asleep in class and mess around constantly."

"That's true," Phil said.

"Why have you only decided to try now, then?" he asked.

"I have something to prove now, sir," Phil said. That was true, he had to prove to himself that he was born with a talent. Now he knew it, it would be wrong to deny his life and lie to his friends forever. Phil saw that Edward had raised an eyebrow at this response.

The head teacher picked up the phone. "I have to call your mother and father," he said, as if Phil was too stupid to figure that out. "I have to let them know about their twins."

The phone ran a few times. "Yes, hello Mrs. Deville," he said, "it's Principle Gardner here." He then smiled. "No, Phil hasn't done anything to get him into trouble, but he and his sister have done something very impressive."

Phil and Edward exchanged looks. "I need to speak to you, after," Phil whispered. Edward just nodded in response.

"You are well aware that Lil was invited to attend a series of lectures by Edward Johnson," he continued, "well, Phil tagged along with his friend Charles Finster. Yesterday, as you may or may not know, Phil volunteered to a test. Oh, you do know," he looked surprised. "Oh, Lillian told you. Well they both did incredibly well."

The phone went silent for a second. "Yes, I said both," he reassured her. "Phil volunteered for the test and, be prepared to be quite shocked, they both scored in the top three. That means they are some of the most intelligent students in the country."

"Well, it was a university test paper, Lil achieved ninety one percent and Phil," he paused, and breathed in, "well Phil scored one hundred percent."

Phil didn't listen to the rest of the conversation; he just lay back in his chair. All he knew now was that now that his mom and Lil knew, his life would change forever. Whether it would be good or bad now was up to the heavens.

End of Chapter 18

I'm not sure, but this is either the last or second last chapter. The finale is coming up though, so get ready. Make sure you review, predict what you think will happen in the finale!


	20. Thanks Before Finale

An Author's thanks: Well, here we are; the finale of my story. Here is my thanks to all of the fans of this story. I just thought I would make a list (by the way, sorry if I listed you twice! ^^). Can everyone review this time! I'd really like to hear everyone's thoughts! If the comments are good enough then I might continue.

Alerters (you all rock)

Andoras

Babewivbrains

BJ88

Cookiesandcream123

Fast Track

JustMikeG22

My-Toxic-Wings

Nhojekimsabig

Sibuna7

Favouriters (Thanks so much)

Andoras

BJ88

Cookiesandcream123

Dxprototype

Grilled Ham and Cheese

Lucky Doll

Pika Pika 21

Sibuna7

TartxMonkeyxStormX4-Eva

Reviewers

BJ88- You've shown a lot of support for this story and have always given fantastic comments, thanks for taking the time to review and I hope this chapter is good enough!

Shining Heart of the Thunder Clan- You only just started reviewing; Thanks for being interested and liking my work! I'm glad you were surprised by my secret about Phil; this chapter will cover all of that! ^^

Acosta Perez Jose Ramiro- Been there from the beginning, and always has nice things to say! Thanks!

Andoras- Thanks you for the reviews, I'm glad you are into my story!

Luke206- Thanks for enjoying it. In answer to your question; I was never into the Wild Thornberries. Why don't you try writing it? ^^

Purple and Black Pandas- You reviewed, and rated, I always love that! It lets me know exactly where I am.

Fast Track- Maybe one day (in answer to your question), thanks for reading.

Animationiscool- Thanks for the review, though I don't know if you finished my story :P.

Cyrus- Thank you! ^^

Soulman3- I really like the way you sum up my chapters and predict, its good to know that you are interested.

Sibuna7- Thanks for reviewing. We'll see, we'll see, maybe I will write a sequel!

Tasha-xoxoxo- It's funny to see you have written that you check back to see if update is on, I do that with my favourites as well!

Lilian- I'm glad you enjoyed it.

TartxMonkeyxStormX4-Eva- I'm glad it's "cute", I hope you are still reading.

BabewivBrains- I'm glad you love it!

Thanks to all of you, I'd love you to review. Can everyone give me a heads up on what you have thought of the story so far, and then I will release the finale. Let's hear what you have to say?


	21. Finale

Author's note: Here we are, at the end. Thanks to all of my reviewers. This chapter is a long one, enjoy! Everyone review this time, please!

Finale

[P]

When the teachers had finally stop questioning him, they accepted the truth of it, but there was something more important on his mind. Kimi was still with Edward, and he really needed to talk to both of them. Lil, Dil and Chuckie were called in the second that Phil left the room, so he didn't have the time to explain to them.

Edward opened the door behind Phil. "I don't care," he said into the room. "It's none of my business." He shut the door before they had chance to argue. "Phil, good to see you," he said sarcastically.

"Yeah, cut the crap," Phil interrupted before he could go further. "Why did you do it?"

"Do what?"

"Don't play dumb, this isn't a game," he exclaimed. "I know you and I know your plans. You set up a spot for me and you knew I was taking the exam. Why would you do that?"

"I presume you know, that I know that you told Kimi before hand," he gestured to Phil to answer. Phil nodded quickly. "I also presume you know that Kimi and I are very close."

"Yeah," he spat, "I know that."

"Well, you may be surprised to know this, but I care about Kimi, and I care, more importantly, how she feels after I leave tomorrow," Edward explained and sat down on the chair in the waiting room. "You lied to everyone, agreed."

The word sunk into Phil's head. His gaze fell to the floor. "Agreed," he muttered.

"Kimi's your best friend, right?"

"Yes."

"Kimi's happy around you, she often says," Edward told him. "If you continued to lie, and didn't take the test I set up, then eventually your friendship would break beyond repair. That would leave you, and much more importantly Kimi, in the pits and you know it. I couldn't have Kimi being miserable when I could do something about it."

Phil frowned. "What, that's it?" he said, shocked. "You just want Kimi to be happy. No ulterior motive, no well hidden plan."

"You get this on film," Edward ran his hand through his hair. "This may well be the first time, ever, in my life that I have used my brains selflessly. That's quite a big deal, ask Ingrid and Fillmore." He smiled. "Kimi wants to be with me, though, you have a girlfriend," Edward stood up and made for the Head master's door, "go with that for the time being."

Edward shut the door behind him. Phil had been avoiding Nat for the last couple of days, not really interested given that he had other things to think about now. Maybe Edward was right, maybe he should try and get into a relationship.

[K]

Kimi was waiting outside in the halls for Edward; she didn't know what to think about anything anymore so she needed someone to talk to. The door opened next to her and she jumped off the wall. It was Phil. "Hello Kimi," he said.

"Phil," Kimi said. "You did it; you admitted the truth to everyone."

"Yeah, I did," Phil agreed.

"Your life's going to change now," Kimi commented. "You do know that."

"Yeah," Phil said. "Thanks to you."

This could be read as a nice comment, but it wasn't. There seemed to be an undercover anger to this comment. "What's that supposed to mean?" she asked, trying to keep hold of her emotions so that she didn't offend him again.

"Well if you hadn't ditched me and tried to hurt me, I wouldn't be in this mess!" Phil growled. "Its fine being nice now, but that doesn't justify what has been done, Kimi, not even remotely!"

"Phil," Kimi gasped.

"Don't play dumb with me," he exclaimed. "You wanted to hurt me, and you did it enough for me to say something. Do you think that's a good thing? I had a good thing going!"

"What?" Kimi argued, finding her spirit in anger. "Do you mean lying to your friends? Lying to me?"

"Why are you so important, then?" Phil responded. "You're the one who has ditched me, not only that, you ditched me for someone you have only known eight days! What the hell? We've been friends since we were babies."

"Edward's different," Kimi muttered, looking him fiercely in the eyes. "I didn't ditch you, anyway. If anything, you ditched me!"

"That's crap and you know it!" Phil roared.

"Is there a problem?" A voice said behind her. She turned and saw Edward leaning against the door.

"No," Phil glared at him. "I was just leaving." Phil turned and walked down the corridor. "You and your boyfriend can take your lectures and your tests and shove them up your fucking asses!"

Kimi's head dropped. After a few seconds to allow Phil to go out of earshot, Kimi sighed. "I've never seen him this angry," she told Edward. "It's just not Phil."

Edward didn't respond, he just watched Phil walk away.

[D]

"Dil sweetie, what's the problem with moving up?" Didi asked. "You can realise your full potential, you always complain about getting bored at school."

"That's true," Dil replied.

The whole family was in the principle's office, now. Didi and Stu had arrived quicker than anyone had expected. The shock at the brain that their son possessed had almost caused Stu to faint with joy.

"To be honest," the principle said. "I doubt he will realise his full potential here, it's not high enough, but moving him into the junior year seems, within reason, the best thing that we can do." He scratched his head. "Mr. Johnson has really given the school something to think about, and has brought us some attention from parents. We have to do something."

"I don't want to be your guinea-pig, sir," Dil explained. "With all due respect, I don't like this school."

"He's not making you into a guinea pig," Stu told him.

"Fine, I don't want him to make an example of me, good or bad," Dil replied. "Besides, I like my school, I like being in middle school. I don't want to be stuck in a school with people much older than me!" Dil turned to Tommy. "You understand right, bro?"

"Yeah," Tommy smiled. "I understand."

Dil was getting sick of this now, constantly being pressured with things. He liked thinking about things, and he too (though he didn't know about Phil's motives) pretended. But he pretended to be lazy, so he could meditate on thoughts all of the time. "I don't want to move schools."

"Well, ultimately Dil, it's up to you," Didi lay her hand on Dil's shoulder. "We'll support you regardless."

"Don't forget," Stu informed him. "This will go on college applications." Dil nodded, he didn't really care about that at the moment, and there were other things to think about now.

"You know what," Didi said, "can you give Dil until next week to think about it?"

"That sounds fine, can I just have a chat with you two?" the principle asked. "Boys, leave us alone for a few minutes."

Tommy opened the door for Dil and followed him out. Once they had sat down on the chairs outside, Dil sighed. "I don't want to do this, T, but I can see mom and dad putting loads of weight on me to do it," he explained. "You know how much they want us to do well!"

"Yeah," Tommy nodded. "Do what you want; I know that you will do well regardless of what happens. Dude, you're our little genius!"

"Thanks," Dil smiled. He knew what he was going to do, anyway. He had to stay put for the time being. He knew that if he moved into this school it would make things awkward for Tommy, and he didn't want that. Dil was selfless, this was for Tommy, not him.

[L]

Lil watched her clock tick by almost in agony. "Come on, for God's sake," she murmured, counting down the seconds until Tommy arrived.

School had ended, and the discussion between Phil, Lil and their parents had been a long one.

[Flashback]

"_What happened, Phil?" Betty asked. They were all sitting around the dining room table, where the always sat when there was some form of family crisis. "I need to ask, but did you cheat?"_

_Phil shook his head almost violently. "I keep telling everyone," he sighed. "I didn't cheat!"_

"_Well what happened, son?" Howard questioned. _

"_I had to prove a point, I have been sleeping my whole life," he shrugged. "I guess I just thought that it became important." _

_Howard and Betty exchanged looks. "Phil, that paper that you did wasn't just some test," Betty explained to him. "It was something designed for people in university. All of the top child brains in the country took it, and both of you came in the highest. This isn't just a class test, this could change your lives."_

"_Yeah," Phil agreed. "I know."_

_Lil was silent for all of this conversation. She didn't know what to think about this sudden change in Phil. Not only had he come top, but he had been silent for most of the day; a feat impossible for Phil in any other situation._

"_From what your head said, that Johnson kid doesn't make any mistakes. He has only said there was talent in somebody once, and they were at his school. He has said that the school can expect great things from you," Howard smiled broadly. _

"_You know what this means," Betty exchanged another look, though this time there was a little smirk in it._

"_No," Phil sat upright, "what does it mean?"_

"_It means no more slacking off," she told him. "It means we expect you to work and be a lawyer, or a doctor, or a physician." _

"_Physicist, mom," Phil chuckled, for what might have been the first time in the last couple of days. "A physician is a doctor."_

_"Right," she smiled._

[End of Flashback]

Lil couldn't believe it, but running that conversation through her head she realised why it was bothering her so much. She was starting to get jealous of Phil, of how he was now the smart one. Lil liked being the smart one.

A knock on the door flooded the house and Lil shook herself out of those thoughts. Finally, she thought to herself. She hopped off her chair and headed downstairs; Phil was out again otherwise she would have made him do it.

"Lil, there's someone at the door!" Betty bellowed from her exercise room.

"I know, mom!" she retorted. "It's Tommy."

"Tell him I said hi!"

Lil opened the door. "Mom said hi," she smirked as Tommy opened his mouth to greet her.

"Right," he laughed and stepped into the house. Lil shut the door behind him and followed him up the stairs.

"Is there any news about the Phil thing?" Tommy asked when they were settled down Lil's room.

"I wonder when everyone is going to stop talking about that," Lil sighed.

"Well," Tommy said, "you can't really blame us for being interested. I mean, it's probably the most interesting thing that has ever happened to us, by far!" Tommy smirked. "Speaking of which, can I use your computer quickly?"

"Knock yourself out," she replied. "It's not like we have work to do or anything."

"It will only take a second, I just want to check Acebook (deliberate spelling change)," Tommy said, turning the computer on and waiting for it to boot. "If you're annoyed that everyone keeps mentioning it, then you're going to enjoy this."

"Oh great," she yawned. "Is it all over Acebook?"

"You bet," Tommy replied.

The night slipped away from Lil's grasp quicker than she would have liked, as on Friday she would have no excuse to bail on seeing Angelica and everyone to see Tommy; things would start getting difficult then.

"You know," Lil said, feeling herself blushing. "I really enjoy these nights."

"Doing work?" Tommy chuckled. "I know I haven't, but surely you have better things to do than this."

"Maybe," Lil smirked back.

[K]

"I'm not going to say it," Edward commented.

"Nope, me neither," Kimi replied.

They were sitting by the lake Edward had come to often whilst he had been here, apparently. They had been there a while now.

"I'm definitely not going to say that I'm going tomorrow," Edward chuckled.

"Hey!" Kimi playfully exclaimed, and snuggled into his chest. "That's not funny," she grumbled. "That's all I can think about now!"

Kimi was happy again, but turmoil was bubbling up inside her and threatening to swallow her whole. When she saw Phil, now, it just made her miserable. Was that her fault? Had she really ditched him? Was Phil bad for her, or was it Edward? No! she bellowed in her mind, not now, it's not worth it.

"What 'choo thinking about?" Edward asked.

Kimi had to watch what she said to Edward, in a way, because he might pick up. The fatal, "nothing" would surely lead him to think she was worried. "Just trying to keep this moment in my mind," she told him. Even she was proud of that one. She smirked, discretely, to herself for being so gosh-darn clever.

"Bet you're proud of that one," Edward laughed.

Damn! "Yeah," Kimi returned.

The moon was out, now, and it lit up the lake ahead of them; Kimi couldn't help but indulge herself in the sheer romance of the moment. "What are you going to do when you get back to X?"

"Drugs," Edward said quickly back, not looking at her.

"Edward!"

He chuckled. "Just kidding," he assured her. "I'm not sure, get to work on some new programs to make; I need the money. Speaking of which, your brother has uninstalled all of those programs he bought from me; he must have realised."

"He's not dumb," Kimi told him.

"No, he's not," Edward replied. "But, I did want him to find out though."

"Why?" she asked.

"So he would get rid of them, I guess," Edward shrugged. "I couldn't manually take them off and they made his computer vulnerable, so short of telling him, I just made them over act a little."

Kimi giggled and Edward looked into her eyes. Kimi lost herself, somewhat deliberately, in his piercing, blue eyes as she leaned in.

[T]

The rain was pouring down today, in droplets that, on their own, could fill a bucket. On the ten second (that fell to one as Tommy sprinted through it) journey from Tommy's house to Chuckie's car he looked as though he had fallen into an ocean. "Wet?" Phil quipped.

"Just a little," Tommy joked and sat down. "Sorry about making your car soaked, Chuckie."

"Don't worry about it, Tommy," Chuckie assured him as he pulled out off of the pavement. "Nothing you could do about it, it's this horrific weather."

"Yeah," Tommy agreed, before he was hit with the news that had flooded his mind all night. He had to be discrete; he could set his childhood friend off. "So," Tommy began, thinking the next comment through. "Are you feeling any better, Phil?" he asked in the end.

"Yeah," Phil nodded. Tommy sighed, inside, the tension was starting to subside from these hard, last couple of days. "You can ask, like Chuckie said, don't worry about it."

"Alright then," Tommy said, rubbing the back of his head awkwardly. "Why didn't you tell us?"

"I like my life," Phil explained. "I could sleep, slack off and be a generic slob twenty four seven, with no consequences. I liked being a lazy bum, that's just who I am!" Phil lay back in the chair. "I guess that I was too scared of everything changing," Phil sighed, a sigh straight from a tired heart. "Now, it will."

"You know," Chuckie chimed in. "We've supported you your whole life, it's not like we are just going to dump you!"

"I was worried about that too," Phil continued. "I was afraid you would all hate me for lying. I am a selfish bastard, to be honest, anyway."

"Nope," Tommy argued. "Looks like you worried about it all for nought!"

"Yeah," Phil nodded. "Yeah, looks like it."

After parking the car they headed to the lecture room; it was full in minutes and Edward was already waiting for them; he was sitting in a chair, but with no whiteboards around him this time. "It's been the two weeks," Edward announced; a definite sigh was in his voice. "I suppose I'm supposed to say how much I've gotten to know you all, but I haven't; thankfully."

Tommy looked over and saw Kimi chuckle, but she looked really miserable. "The best thing to come out of this, with exception to one thing that I would never tell you people," obviously referring to Kimi, "was that the state school students beat all of your private school students, money can't buy intelligence, I suppose."

"If you were hoping to get out of lessons for another session, tough luck," Edward explained to them, "I have other, more important things to do than sit here. Well done and stuff on your results, I suppose, and you can put on your Cvs that Edward Johnson called you stupid, good for you. And…"

"Excuse me," A voice said, behind Tommy. He turned to see the principle of Edward's school; the women that truly terrified him. "Students of my school, I have an important message."

Edward looked to her, looking for the first time Tommy had ever seen, confused. "The weather is going to turn, and as you know we only booked last for Thursday," she continued. "If we don't go in the next hour, we are stranded."

"What!" Edward and Kimi exclaimed in unison.

"Yes," the Principle said. "Ingrid, Fillmore, Johnson, Jackson, Anza and Tehama you need to come with me to get all of your equipment from the hotel. I'm sorry about this, but there is nothing I can do."

Edward walked off the stage; his cane leaving a series of thuds as it hit the floor.

[K]

Kimi sat, perplexed and eyes wide. "What," she whispered. "He was supposed to be leaving a four; that gave us the whole day together!"

"Come on, Kimi," Edward called, as he walked down the row. Kimi looked up and saw his face; it too looked sunken and sad. "Apparently, I have to go now." Kimi saw him exchange a hateful stare with his principle.

"Edward!" she exclaimed, getting up and running after him.

Edward had walked ahead of her, out of the hall. "I can't believe this," Kimi moaned to him, "Why, why so early?" They were outside now, walking side by side, hands held tightly together as they felt they patrolled death row.

"I always thought that it was just people who hate me," Edward spat, "but it turns out that the weather, to, hates me just as much." Edward pushed open the door to the car park. "It hates me just enough to cut the best thing that's happened to me short."

Kimi grabbed Edward's hand as he made for his bike. She pulled him around and fell into his arms. "Don't be angry," Kimi begged. "There's no need."

Edward hugged her back, taking in the time. "I don't know why this has happened," Edward said. Kimi smiled meekly and he kissed her again. Kimi felt a tear run down her face, she went to dry her eye but Edward did it for her. "Listen," he smiled, "don't stay mad at Phil, you have a good friend there; something that I can never have, ever."

"I know," Kimi told him. "It's my fault, anyway."

"I wouldn't say that," Edward reassured her, leaning on his bike. "It's not worth losing something like that." Edward hopped on his bike. "Even the weather's against me," he commented and stared up into the sky. He reached for his helmet.

"Wait," Kimi stopped him. He looked over and she kissed him. Time stood still; she had no idea where she was or how long it went on. Then, in one agonizing moment, Edward pulled away.

"See you later, Kimi," he winked and pulled his helmet over his face.

She was crying now, but trying to hold it in all the same. She waved as he drove away down the road.

Kimi felt a hand on her shoulder. She half turned, not wanting to look away from the bike, expecting to see Phil. It was Chuckie. He didn't say anything, just opened his arms. Kimi hugged him and sobbed into his chest. It had only been two weeks, but it was like losing a necklace that a grandparent had given; you knew it would never come back, and you could never have anything that could compare.

"Damn him," Kimi murmured.

What she didn't know, for perhaps the first time in his life, a tear rolled down Edward's face as he drove away.

[P]

Phil lay back on his bed, taking in the events of the day. Kimi and Phil might not be the same again, and they definitely wouldn't go back to normal if he kept thinking about her like he was now; with love bordering on obsession, with every move that she made with Edward he was broken a little.

Then there was Nat; he did like her to be honest, though only a little. Maybe if he put in more effort with her and truly forgot (or tried) about Kimi, then he would like her more. Was that the way it works? He wasn't sure at the moment, he wasn't thinking as straight and normal as usual.

Should he do that, or was that wrong? Was it right to, let's face it, use Nat to get through his feelings for Kimi? Nat wasn't stupid, and girls picked up on that sort of thing anyway. He couldn't help but think that he was a little in the wrong.

That's it, he thought. I'm going to get more involved with Nat. It didn't matter anymore, he just needed something to distract him from this pain in his stomach, this ache that wasn't going away. Phil picked up his phone and turned it on, meaning to text Nat. To his surprise, there was already a text from her.

He smiled as he opened it.

"_Phil, we have only been together for a week. You didn't tell me about the test thing, and you have been drooling over that Finster girl since we have been together. It's over, it's just pointless to be honest. If you want, we can talk at school but I'm not really interested. Sorry."_

Phil sighed and threw the phone across the room. "Fuck's sake!" he cried and fell back onto his bed. "Nothing goes right for me, ever."

[T]

This was it, Tommy thought. He was tidying his room frantically, making sure everything was in place, making sure no stray underpants were lying around to embarrass him. Tommy wasn't stupid, tonight was very important. Tonight was the first time that Lil would be coming over to his house, not vice versa, in a long time. Again, he wasn't stupid, he knew that this could start something. Or, at least, draw Lil closer and closer back into their friend group.

Unfortunately, as usual, there was a problem. Tommy hadn't eaten today, the refrigerator broke down. Tommy got cranky whenever he hadn't eaten, and he had spent all of his money on the arcade. Since his parents were out, he couldn't ask for any more; he hadn't really thought everything through enough.

There was a knock on the door and Tommy smiled. "Hi Lil," he heard, his brother had answered. Dil had agreed to go out whilst Lil was here, to give them privacy; good kid. "Tommy's upstairs, probably listening to this conversation." Tommy smirked.

"Yeah, probably," Lil replied, probably smirking to. Tommy heard the door close.

"I'll be back later," Dil called. "See you."

"Bye Dil," Tommy called back. "Hi Lil," he smiled as he appeared in his door frame.

"Hello," Lil said, making for the seat Tommy had brought up earlier for her. "We've got to get this finished today; we probably will though, it's nearly done."

"Yeah," Tommy said as she sat down. "We'll get a good great, hopefully, we put quite a bit of work into this!"

Lil got the work out of her backpack. The two worked, speaking about nonsense, you do that with friends, for what felt like hours. Tommy didn't mind, in fact, he was enjoying the opiate that was conversation. "This had been nice, hasn't it," Lil said after a while. After having a conversation about Kimi's fascination with the Gummy Bears, this seemed quite serious.

"Yeah," Tommy replied. "It has."

"Like old times," Lil said, "I bet that's what you have been thinking."

"Got it in one."

"I miss it," Lil said. "I wish it could come back."

It's your fault, Tommy thought, suddenly feeling strangely unnerved. "Yeah," he said, finding his teeth clenching. He hated people who made their own problems and then complained about it, but he couldn't understand why it was getting to him now.

"I don't know what happened."

"I do," Tommy said. Don't do this Tommy, a voice said in his head. No, another said, she needs to hear this.

"What?"

"You did, Lil," Tommy said.

"What are you talking about?" Lil snapped, the mood changing in an instant. Lil was always quick to anger. So was Kimi. It meant people always had to tread on glass around them.

"Don't play dumb with me," he snapped back. Maybe it was Dil, maybe all the attention Dil was getting was making him like this. Whatever the reason, he couldn't stand the moaning any more. "You ditched us, all of us, at the most popular person who came your way."

"Don't snap at me, Pickles," Lil growled.

"Even that," Tommy retorted. "You're even copying the way Angelica speaks. It's her fault!"

"This isn't Angelica's fault, so don't blame it on her!" Lil shouted. "Besides, you have no idea what it's like, you're completely ignorant of everything!"

Tommy shook his head. "You sold us, you dumped us first chance," Tommy said. "What's worse is now, you're complaining about it. I'm sick of it, Lil, either ditch your new friends or ditch your old ones, it's not fair what you are doing!"

"You're not letting me have friends now," Lil shouted, standing up. "You know what, fuck this, I don't need to take this from you." Lil made for the door.

"Lil," Tommy called. She turned, probably expecting him to apologise, but he would be damned if he would apologise for the truth. Like he had thought earlier, she needed t hear this. "What about the work?"

"Don't worry about it," she spat. "I'll finish it, and I'll put your name on. See you later, Tommy."

She stormed out of the room, tears in her eyes. Tommy rested his head on the table as heard the door open. "Hi again Lil," he heard Dil say, "where are you going."

"Get out of my way," Lil said to him.

He was such an idiot, but he had to do it. "You're an idiot, Pickles," he said to himself.

[C]

Chuckie sat on his computer, playing on the console that he had downloaded. He had white lied, he had downloaded a console, but that was not the reason that he had stayed up all night. He had been on the phone, distracted by someone.

Just as he thought that, his phone rang. "Hello again," he said, smiling.

"Hi," the person on the other end said. "I need help again."

"Sure," he replied. "I'll ring you back… Angelica."

Fin

Well, there you have it, make sure you all review.

Will there be a sequel? Who knows, but if there is one then it will be on this story.


	22. Section 2: Winter

Section 2: Winter.

That's right, everybody, section 2 is on the way. I have got a plan drawn out and it will continue very soon. This section starts two months after Edward left and broke Kimi's heart. It is winter now and December. This section will finish on New year's day in their world.

I can now let you know that there will be four sections, including the first: Autumn, Winter, Spring and Summer. They will cover all of the highs and lows of being a teenager: trivial or serious matters, for the Rugrats.

Though I do have a plan, the minor details can be changed, so post what you want to happen in this story.

Finally, people, this is the start of AngelicaxChuckie, so fans of that keep reading!

Thank you all

Tend to Infinity


	23. Chapter 1: Left or Right

Section 2: Winter

Author's note: Haha, here we go, the start of the new section. I thought I would help you all with a long one to keep you going. More sections are coming up though, don't you worry. Thanks for all the support, and please continue to review to show your appreciation.

This is mostly a PK chapter, but you may notice an introduction into AC, I know a few of you have been asking for it. I'm not a big fan, but if the audience like it, then it's fine by me.

Just a word of warning, updates won't be updating as often as I would like because I have exams coming up, so I will be revising and eating a lot. And of course, sleeping. I do that a lot before exams.

Chapter 1: Left or Right?

[P]

"Left or right, Kimi?" Phil asked, referring to two senior girls from his school walked by.

"I can't answer that, Phil," Kimi chuckled and shook her head.

It was a Sunday afternoon and Kimi and Phil were sitting on a bench in the mall of their town. Two months had gone by since Edward Johnson had left and December had just started, bringing the harsh winter in with it. Phil and Kimi, of course, were friends again and it didn't take them more than a week. You see, it's very difficult to truly hate someone you have grown up with since the cot.

It had not been a good, long talk that had brought them back together. As Phil could remember it, not a word was spoken in the ten minutes. For three they just stared at each-other and then, spontaneously, they hugged. After that, all awkwardness went away with it. With everything being as complex as it had been, for it to end in such a simple manner was pleasing to say the least.

Things had not been easy for Phil after that though, what with his parents pressuring him to study all the time; he was pretty sure he had finished all of his work up to senior and beyond. The times with Kimi had made up for that, though.

The winter was colder than Phil could remember it ever being; he was wrapped up in two tea shirts, a jumper and then a coat on top with a scarf wrapped around his neck. "You look like a pillow," Kimi laughed as Phil loosened his scarf.

"At least I'm warm," he said, nodding at Kimi. She was only wearing a shirt and jumper. "You must be freezing!" Phil rubbed his stomach. "Come on," he said, slapping his legs and hopping up. "I need a sandwich!"

"What?" Kimi complained. "We have just eaten!"

"Yeah, well," he smirked. "I'm hungry again." He gestured to a shop on the floor below them. "It's only one trip in the elevator." They were on the third floor of a multi-story, with room in the middle with a fountain in.

Kimi sunk back into her chair, reluctant to give it up. "The chair will be there when you get back," Phil grinned, offering his hand to help her up. Kimi sighed and took it.

"What do you want, anyway?" Kimi asked, following him.

Phil turned the corner, heading to the lift to take them down a floor. "I feel like a tuna sandwich," he told her.

"Phil!" Kimi complained. "You know I hate tuna!"

"You don't have to eat it," Phil scratched his head.

"I just don't like the smell," she explained.

"Fine," Phil reluctantly concluded, "I get a cheese one, instead."

"That's better," Kimi smirked as Phil pressed the button on the lift. The elevator pinged and the door opened. They stepped inside and, after he pressed the number 2 on the wall, the door closed in front of them. "I always worry about these things," Kimi grumbled, leaning back against the wall.

"Why?"

"I feel like I'm going to get stuck," she shivered. "I don't think I'm claustrophobic, but for some reason it bothers me to think about it."

"That means you're claustrophobic, stupid," Phil quipped.

"Shut up!" Kimi punched him.

The door opened, seemingly quickly. "Well," Phil laughed. "You whining about your fear of elevator seems to have made it go quicker. Stuff that in the face of parents who say stop thinking about things."

They went to the shop as quickly as possible; Phil obviously rushing Kimi. Just as Kimi went in, she felt a hand on her shoulder pull her back against the wall. It was Phil. "What is it?" she snapped, surprised.

Phil had seen something inside that had made him. "Just take a look in there again," he told her, keeping close to the wall, making sure that no one inside could see him. He watched Kimi peak around the corner and look back with a raised eyebrow.

"It's just Angelica and some hooded guy," she frowned. "What's the problem?"

"Her friends, that she is no doubt meeting, harass me all the time," Phil explained. "I just don't want it to ruin the day."

Phil heard Angelica give the cashier the money and bit his lip. "Come on," he said, turning back the way he came.

"What about food?" Kimi asked.

"It will have to wait," he said, hurrying ahead. "Which way?" he asked, starting to be silly now, as they came to a corridor to their right and the lift to their left.

"Lift," Kimi nodded. "I want to get back to that seat!"

"Lift on the left," Phil muttered and pressed the button. The two of them hurried in as the door opened and Phil looked out behind them as it shut. He leaned back against the wall, like before, and sighed. "Looks like we lost them, then."

"Yeah," Kimi said, standing beside him. "I still don't really see what the problem is."

Phil shook his head. "I don't really want them to know we're here," Phil explained. "If they're bored, which they probably will be, they'll just harass us all day." He rubbed his head. "I can't be bothered with it."

"Yeah, I see that," Kimi agreed.

The ground shook gently beneath them. Phil frowned. "What's going on?" Kimi mused aloud. Phil turned to see her eyes slightly wider, looking on the edge of panic. "We can't on the third floor yet."

"We're not," Phil frowned further, his brow almost touching his eyeball. The lift stopped, but with a strange thump that he wasn't used to. "Something's gone wrong."

"Phil," Kimi whispered. "Is it jammed?"

Phil didn't answer her (stupid question really, how could he know any more than her) and went forward and pressed on the alert button. "Hey," he snapped into the microphone section. "The elevator is jammed, we need help in here!"

"What?" a voice, a male voice, said back into the microphone.

"Is that broken as well?" Kimi shouted frantically.

"It's alright, Kimi," Phil tried to calm her. "Listen, the elevator, the one near the groggs shop, it's jammed and we're stuck."

"Oh crap," he said. "Jim," he called away from the phone, obviously forgetting to turn it off. "Lift B's down."

"Oh fuck's sake," Jim muttered. "How many people are in it?"

"Wait a second," the first man replied. "Hello again, Kid," he said. "How many people are in there?"

"Just me and my friend," Phil replied, leaning against the wall with his forehead pressed against it. "What's going on then, how are you going to get us out of here?"

"Hold on, sir," the first man said.

"What else are we going to do?" Phil growled as the man continued to converse with Jim.

"Don't take that tone with me, sir," the man growled back. "We'll be there as soon as possible, but you're just going to have to wait."

"Fuck," Phil spat and leaned against the door. He looked over to Kimi, whose eyes were wide, shaking slightly and looking desperately at him. "Sorry Kimi," he sighed, "looks like we are going to be there for a while."

[C]

"This is ridiculous," Chuckie said, pulling the hood further over his head. "I look like a fool! Remind me, again, why do I have to go through this?"

"You know exactly why, Finster!" a familiar, slightly shrill voice whispered. "I can't afford to be seen with you."

"Do you even think about what you are saying before it comes out of your mouth?" Chuckie asked, already knowing the answer.

Chuckie and Angelica had now been close friends for just over two months, and Chuckie had never been more secret about his affairs. It really worried him, because if anyone found out it would ruin it. He had to plan everything he said, from when he realised Phil's analytic prowess. It was like nature was against him, or, at least, something was.

"If anyone saw me out here with you," she continued, "everything that I have would be ruined, and I'm not letting you do that to me."

"I wouldn't let anyone know," Chuckie replied. "But don't you think hanging out with me isn't that damaging."

Angelica chuckled. "You're not exactly popular, Chuckie."

That was the problem, and the power, of Angelica. She would say exactly what she wanted, what she felt was right/necessary regardless of who it would hurt. Unless, of course, it would damage her reputation or, Chuckie suspected, made people laugh at her. Chuckie felt like he was the only one who realised but, despite the way that she acted, she was actually very self-conscious and terrified of being singled out. In personality, in some aspects, the two of them were quite similar. Strange thought, ey?

Chuckie and Angelica walked out of the Groggs. Chuckie noticed Angelica looking down the corridor the opposite direction. "What are you looking at?" he asked, head angled down to prevent anyone seeing him. He felt even more ridiculous now.

"I just saw and heard a kids foot race round there," she commented. "I can still hear them, why are they running?"

"From you maybe?" Chuckie quipped.

"Very funny," Angelica replied. "No one would run from me, Finster. Remember that."

"I will, don't worry about it."

[T]

"You know," Tommy commented, putting his feet up on the table. "This show makes me feel embarrassed to feel American."

Tommy, Dil and Chuckie were sitting in front of the Pickle's television, watching American one o'clock TV, the best of the United States of America: Jerry Springer. "Then why are we watching it?" Chuckie asked. "I don't like it either."

Tommy and Chuckie looked, together, at Dil. He shrugged. "Hey, I like waiting for fights," he grinned. "Besides, rednecks with twenty offspring make me laugh."

Chuckie had just popped round for a bit for some reason; maybe he was just bored.

"Weird," Tommy chuckled. "So Chuckie," Tommy announced, looking over to him. "How long now, until your chess tournament… thing?"

"Two weeks," Chuckie said, leaning back into the chair with a sigh. "Two weeks until I humiliate myself by coming last."

"You're not going to come last," Dil shook his head. "I don't know why you are so worried; I've played you and you're great!"

"Thanks for that," Chuckie sunk back further. "You remember with Edward, he beat me with no problems at all, he barely concentrated at all; more concerned with my sister!" He sighed.

"Yeah, well, that was Edward," Tommy scratched his head. "Besides, that was about two months ago, you've improved and you've practiced non stop since then. Besides," Tommy smiled. "Edward won't be there, you told me that you checked."

"Yeah, I did check," Chuckie smiled. "But Edward isn't the only person in the world who is great at chess; there will probably be people much better than him." Chuckie looked up. "I doubt any of them will be kids, but still. It wouldn't be so bad if he didn't crush me without trying."

"Quit your bitching," Dil waved his hand up. "Do you still talk to Edward on the computer; I know you downloaded a lot of his stuff prior to him coming over."

"No," Chuckie explained. "Even if I wanted to, last time I checked he hadn't released anything new. His website was the same as it was before he came over here."

"Probably miserable," Dil noted. "I can't believe we're still talking about him."

"Yeah," Tommy replied. "Wait a second, someone's calling me," he reached for his pocket. "Can you mute the TV, Dil?"

"But it's just getting good!" Dil complained, and grumbled to himself as Tommy glared at him to shut it off.

"Hello?" Tommy said down the phone. "Oh, hi Phil, what's up?" Tommy narrowed his eyes. "Ouch, no… no I know, I'd hate to be trapped like that. How long have you been there? An hour! Fucking hell, why didn't you call us? Oh right, only just got signal. What are they going to do about it?" Tommy looked over and saw Chuckie and Dil looking questioningly to him. He waved their inevitable question down before they asked it. "Ok, thanks for letting us know, I'll tell Chuckie. No… I have no idea why he isn't answering his phone, he's with me anyway. Ok, I'll tell him he's a retard; alright, bye Phil!"

Tommy put the phone down and sat down back onto the chair, ignoring Chuckie and Dil's faces and smiled to himself. "Don't do that," Chuckie almost begged, slightly irritated. "What did Phil want to tell me?"

"Oh that," Tommy grinned. "Phil and Kimi are trapped in the elevator at the mall."

Chuckie sat up. "What's going on down there?" he asked. "Is Kimi alright?"

"Chill out Chuckie!" Tommy instructed gently. "They're fine, they just have to wait for the people to come down; he was just letting you know so that you didn't expect her home."

"I told her not to use those things," Chuckie groaned. "It wouldn't be half as bad if the mall wasn't a complete waste of space."

"Speaking of complete wastes of space, Dil," Tommy said, directing himself away from Chuckie's moaning. "Given any thought to moving up yet? Sick of middle school; I know that I was."

"Like I've told dad a thousand times," Dil looked down. "I'm fine where I am!"

Dil had remained in middle school, much to the irritation of Stu (who knew it would really help in the future). Chuckie, on the other hand, had been moved up. Though he didn't like the idea of moving up to the senior level, they instead made him into a sophomore to try him out. Oddly enough, the only one who wasn't asked to move was Phil (who had already overtaken Chuckie). Chuckie was doing well as well; none of the work they did was a challenge for him. This, as had suspected, had made him more of a target than before.

"Put the television back on then," Tommy said.

"Please change the channel, though," Chuckie pleaded.

"To what?" Dil asked. "The news? No thanks."

"Fine, watch your crap," Tommy said, resigning himself and standing up. "Want to go play Xbox, Chuckie?"

"Sure," Chuckie said.

As they walked up the stairs Tommy looked over his shoulder at the front door. Unfortunately, his little, ahem… row with Lil hadn't put her out of his mind. The only measure that he could take was to avoid her sight; he felt nauseas when he saw her now. Nothing could possibly be more awkward. She hadn't even spoken to him since it happened; not quite the reaction he had been hoping for.

The best thing he could do now was try to forget about her.

[K]

Phil and Kimi were sitting opposite each other in the elevator. In a way, they were pretty lucky: this would have been much worse if anyone else was in it. It would have been unbearable, she shuddered to think, if it was packed and they were pressed against the wall. They had been in the lift for two hours now, and it was really getting uncomfortable, and Kimi had nearly lashed out earlier.

[Earlier]

"We're trapped, aren't we," Kimi stuttered. "Phil, we've got to get out of here."

"I hate it to," he said, looking at her, "but you know as well as I do that there is nothing I can do. We just have to wait, as difficult as that may be."

"But we can't get out!" she said, getting gradually louder with every word. "We can't get out!"

"I know that," Phil snapped. "Like I said, there is nothing I can, we can, do!"

Kimi stood up. "Don't snap at me!" she shouted.

"Keep the noise down," he growled. "I hate it to! You've just got to keep calm!"

"Don't tell me to keep down," she retorted. "You were the one who told us to run from Angelica, this is your fault!"

"Don't blame this on me!" Phil argued back. "You're the one who wanted to keep the seat, this is equally your fault."

Kimi looked down at the floor. "Yeah, actually," she said, not looking at him. "Sorry Phil. It's just this lift, I hate it!" She kicked the door and pressed on the button. "We're going to be stuck in here for hours!"

"Yeah, probably," Phil said, sliding back against the wall until he reached the floor. "It's alright, nothing bad can happen." He scratched his head. "If you think about it, bad stuff's more likely to happen out there." He patted the ground. "Come on, sit down, it'll make you feel better.

Kimi smiled meekly and sat opposite him. Then his mouth went wide. "Oh!" he said, looking like he had just remembered something really important. Kimi couldn't help but think that he had figured some way out. He reached into his backpack (that was now lying on the floor in front of him. "I think it's here," he said, sticking his tongue out to the side of his mouth.

Kimi sat up. "What is it?" she asked, trying to look into the bag.

"Here it is," he smiled to himself. He pulled out, in what felt like slow motion, a deck of cards. "Want to play snap or something."

"Damnit, Phil!" Kimi moaned, leaning back onto the lift's walls, though there was a smirk on her face.

"What?" he said, looking confused.

"I thought you were looking for some gadget to save the day!" she explained.

"Oh," he grinned. "Nope, not today, I left my super-hero outfit at home today; you're going to have to make do with regular Phil."

[End]

"Snap," Kimi said, slamming her hand on top of the deck of cards.

"Damn," Phil complained, his deck getting too small for his liking.

Kimi and Phil had been playing snap for ages now. From time to time Kimi looked up at Phil, not sure what she thought of him. Phil was easily the best friend that she had ever had and she remembered being crazy about him before Edward. Now, since Edward left, he's the only one that she could think about.

What made it worse was that Edward hadn't spoken to her at all since he had left. No emails, no phone, no nothing. She suspected that it was because he wanted her to get over him, which was obviously kind in a way, but it was so annoying and felt like he was being cruel.

"Can't we play poker or something?" Phil asked, looking down at his pathetic deck. "I suck at this."

"Why?" Kimi asked, "You think quickly."

"Just crap reaction time," he shrugged. "Remember those reaction tests we had to do in P.E in middle school?"

Kimi frowned and put her finger on her chin. "Do you mean the ones with the metre stick that they dropped?" she asked. "Where you had to catch them as quickly as possible."

"That's the one," Phil nodded. "Well, my reactions were so poor that the gym teacher laughed at me. I got about fifty centre meters or something. It's one of the reasons I suck at games and Chuckie and Tommy beat me all of the time."

"Well, you know Chuckie," Kimi nodded. "If he's not programming on his computer or playing chess, he's on the Xbox."

"I don't know how he can take chess," Phil said, shuffling the cards to himself. "It is so boring. If it's quick I don't mind it, but he thinks for about ten minutes each move. It's so boring!"

"How do you think he's going to do in the tournament?" Kimi asked. Chuckie had been really stressing out about it; she had known him to stay up all night to practice. "He's terrified of coming last."

"He's not going to come last," Phil replied, shaking his head with confidence. "He can beat me every time. I'm not great, but that's still impressive."

"He can, and has, beaten me with his back to the board and me telling him the moves!" Kimi said, quite loudly.

"Seriously?" Phil nodded. "Actually, that's pretty impressive. I've got to see that."

"Yeah," Kimi said, gazing up at the prison cell they were trapped in. "If we ever get out of this dump!"

"It won't be long now," he said soothingly.

"He's been worrying about chess for a while now," Kimi frowned. "I don't know why." She put her thumb on her chin, again. "Actually, he did mention something, but it was under his breath." She looked over; Phil had raised his eyebrow. "It was the fact that Edward beat him so easily."

"Well, it was Edward," Phil said (an expression that seemed common among their friend group). "Been thinking about him much lately?"

"Yeah, I suppose," Kimi replied after a moment's hesitation. "He hasn't spoken to me since."

Kimi looked over again to see Phil pulling the same face he usually did when he was thinking. "Don't take this the wrong way," he said. "But I think he wants you to get over him, to move on, I suppose. That's nice of him."

Kimi sighed. "That's good to hear," she replied. "At least I'm not mental; I was thinking the same thing."

"Unless we're both mental," Phil smiled.

"Possibly," she giggled. She looked over a third time, but this time was different. She looked straight into Phil's hazel eyes. She felt her heart soften; a strange feeling of calm that she wasn't used to. Realizing she was staring, she shook herself and coughed. "Anyway," she began, feeling herself blushing and praying that Phil hadn't noticed.

Phil just smiled.

"Hello?" a voice said at the speaker by the elevator.

Phil jumped up. "Yeah?"

"The mechanics have got it working again. It should work in about five minutes and take you out," the man explained. "Sorry for all the inconvenience that this has caused."

"Yeah, yeah," Phil said, stepping away from the microphone and picking up his cards. "That's that then," he grinned at Kimi. "We're getting out of here."

Kimi checked her phone. "Holy crap," she said. "We've been here for four hours!"

[End of Chapter 1]

So, what did you think of the opening of this section. I liked it and enjoyed writing it. This was a bit like a pilot, as the real plot of the section is introduced next chapter; keep reading for more.

Next time: Chapter 2: A Higher Destination

Make sure you alert and review! ^^

Tend to Infinity out!


	24. Chapter 2: A Higher Destination

Author's note: Hi everyone, glad you are still reading, and hopefully enjoying, my story. This chapter introduces the new, main plot of section 2. I like this one, in my head, and when it gets keyboard-publishing, I hope it comes out well.

Enjoy!

Chapter 2: A "Higher" Destination

[T]

The rugrats were crowded around their usual table eating slowly and chatting. "What do you think our parents want, then?" Chuckie asked whilst biting into a cheese sandwich.

"I don't know," Tommy replied.

"It's strange that all of us have been told to go round to mine after school though," Phil commented.

All four of them had been invited round to Kimi and Chuckie's after, as a group. This hadn't happened in a long time, so they were a little surprised at such a pre-teen get-together. The weirdest thing was the fact that they had been called on the way to school, not told at home by their parents.

Phil put his book down on the table. "Getting tired of studying yet, my man?" Tommy asked.

"Yeah," Phil replied, looking up at him.

It was a Monday, the worst day of the week for Tommy. He had double I.T next; computers were so dull! "Hey," Phil looked at him, "looking for forward to I.T?"

"Phil, didn't you know," Kimi grinned. "I.T is Tommy's favourite lesson."

"That's true," Chuckie concurred, checking his watch. "Speaking of which, it looks like we have to go to it. I have a free, anyway, so you can enjoy it. What have you got?"

"I have maths," Phil said.

Kimi reached into her top pocket and pulled out her lesson plan. "I still don't like these uniforms," she said, unfolding it. "Though, these pockets are actually pretty useful. Anyway," Tommy could see her mentally shake herself before she rambled. "I have gym, yay!"

"You like gym?" Chuckie frowned. "I thought it messed up your hair."

"It does," Kimi said. Her hair was down today, with it long at the back with strands down her face. "But since the field can't be used at the moment, we're doing badminton, which I actually like!"

Tommy looked at Kimi. He used to be so obsessed with her in middle school. Even though they were with each-other for about a week and decided it wasn't the right time, the feelings stretched back further than that. Secretly, he had liked her for years. In fact, he couldn't remember a time when he didn't. But now, thankfully (as he was pretty sure Phil was crazy about her), those feelings were gone. On the bad side, they had been replaced with more ill-directed emotions toward Phil's sister. He swore in his head every time he thought about it. Since Rachel and his other pre-teen 'loves' he seemed always to be attracted to people in his friend group; that could have serious consequences for all of them.

"Lucky you," Tommy sighed. "I like soccer when I'm in a good mood, hate it when all the jocks take it really seriously."

"Alright then," Phil said, putting his book in his backpack and standing up. "Want to get to class, my maths teacher has really got it in for me. I don't know why."

"Probably because she is jealous you're smarter," Tommy commented.

"I don't know."

"Stop being modest, Phil," Kimi laughed. "Gym is the same was as maths, so I'll walk with you."

"Ok," Phil said. "Anyway, guys, see you after school. Meet you at Chuckie's car afterward, then."

"Yeah," Chuckie agreed. "We're going to have to go to the gas station though; I'm running out of gas."

"That's ok," Kimi smirked. "You can buy me some chocolate; I really have a craving at the moment."

Tommy got up from the table and followed the three out of the lunch hall. He tried not to, but he could see the back of Lil's head from the 'popular' table. Despite that, he liked his life. Whenever he got down about Lil, he though; my life is actually pretty great!

[P]

"Right, that's the homework, due in Wednesday, don't forget!" Phil's teacher said as the rest of the class packed up. Phil pulled up his jacket and pushed his hair out of his eyes. He was going to be honest now: he had never hated school more. But, then again, this increased his chances of getting into medical school dramatically. His parents wanted what was best for him, he supposed.

Phil pushed through the door with the rest of the class and found Kimi leaning on the lockers outside, eyes shut, with headphones on. He frowned. "Hey," he tapped her. "What are you doing out of class so early?" he asked as she took out the headphones.

"Hi Phil," she smiled. "Well, I'm pretty sure our teacher can't tell the time. So he let us out five minutes early!"

"Nice," he said, walking beside her down the hall. "So, been thinking about what our parents are going to say?"

"Not really," she said. "I'm just going with it at the moment, you know?"

"Yeah," he grinned. "I used to, no thanks to you." He pushed her. "Anyway," he continued. "I think it's probably going to be some reward thing for starting high school. Something like that."

"What about Chuckie?" Kimi asked, going with his idea.

"Well, I suppose they could incorporate him into that with the fact that he has been moved up to junior," he explained.

"Yeah, that makes sense."

"I was right, again," a voice behind them announced. It was Tommy, and he looked miserable. "Computer technology, or whatever you call it, was just as dull and annoying as usual, click here, now click here," he continued, miming the action with his finger in the air. "God, I hate it."

Kimi chuckled. "Well, we've got our parent's announcement to look forward to," she comforted, jokingly laying a hand on Tommy's shoulder. "Phil thinks it's going to be some sort of rewards, thing."

"I hope so," Tommy agreed.

They headed out to Chuckie's car and waited at it. Two months may have passed, but Chuckie was still set in his ways; the car was parked as far away from the entrance as it possibly could. After waiting (for what felt like an hour), the saw Chuckie stumbling out holding lots of books and loose paper.

"Travelling light then, Chuck," Tommy commented, as he picked up a piece of paper that had fallen out of Chuckie's arm.

"You have no idea," he sighed. "I think this is the least that they have given me this month; I swear they are getting at me!"

"You're just paranoid," Kimi said, opening the boot of the car for him. "Then again," she said, as she heard the thud of the work hitting the boot base. "Maybe you're onto something."

"If it was sent on computer it wouldn't be a problem," Chuckie explained. "But carrying this much is just a joke."

"Starting to regret moving up, then?" Phil teased, knowing it was a sore point.

"I can't believe you weren't forced to and I was," Chuckie said. "At least it was only junior, if I had moved up to senior it would have been ten times worse."

"You know, you're go with the flow attitude is what's really attractive about you, Chuckie," Phil grinned at Kimi; Phil always joked around with Chuckie. "Come on then," he said, slapping his hands together. "I want to know what's so urgent we needed a friend-group get together!"

"Yeah, I have to admit, I'm intrigued about that as well," he slammed the boot down (it was the only way to shut it. "Come on then," he commanded. "Let's go then."

[T]

"After you," Chuckie said, holding the door open for Kimi, Phil and Tommy.

"Don't bother being polite, Chuckie," Phil said as he walked through.

"Old habits die hard," Chuckie replied.

Tommy could feel everyone thinking about what was going to happen; that's how intense it was. To be honest, he didn't really care; his thoughts were directed elsewhere. Namely, the fact that Lil would probably be there and it would be really, really awkward (a feeling Tommy hated above all others).

When they went into the main room they saw Betty lounging on the couch. "Hey there everyone," she said. Further looks around the room showed Tommy that everyone was here. "Hey, parents," she called. "The 'rats are here."

"Thanks for that, mum," Phil said, closing the door behind Chuckie.

"Don't worry about it," Betty smirked as the parents came in.

"Hi kids," Stu announced, "want to gather round, or something?"

They went round and filled in the empty seats; with Phil and Kimi (Tommy noticed) sitting next to each other. "So, I'll bet you've been wondering what's going on all day," Stu said, running his hand through his now receding hair. They nodded, almost in unison.

"Well…" Didi said, before being interrupted.

"Yo," a voice called in as the door opened. "Is anyone in?" It was Dil.

"Yes, Dil," Didi said, "I was just about to ask where you were. Come on, sit down somewhere."

"There are barely any seats," Chaz commented.

"Well, that leaves one missing," Kira said. "Have any of you seen Lil?"

"Nope," Phil replied. "We don't see much of her anymore, but she'll probably be back in a minute or two."

Didi, who to be honest looked a little flustered by the interruption, looked to Betty, who shrugged. "Well, we might as well explain the motive for what happening without her," Betty said. "Like Phil said, she'll probably be here in a minute."

"Anyway," Didi smiled.

"See you later, Brad!" Lil called from out of the open front door. She shut the door behind her. "Oh," she said, surprised. "I didn't realise that we started, sorry."

"I think that's the last one, honey," Stu chuckled.

"Come and take a seat," Kira said.

Tommy instantly got up, through both politeness and the fact he didn't want to look like a fool from hard feelings. "Thanks," Lil muttered, quietly.

"Don't mention it," Tommy said as he sat on the floor next to Phil.

"Well, that looks like everyone," Chaz announced. "Finally, Didi, let them know what's going on."

"Yes, well," Didi said. "We have a special surprise for you all, a gift for starting high school, and for Chuckie doing so well in junior." "Told you," Phil whispered to Kimi. "This Christmas, we won't be staying at home!" The whole group raised eyebrows simultaneously. "We're going on an two week trip up to Aspen for the holidays!"

"Aspen!" Lil gasped. The whole group looked at her and she scratched her head. "Umm… sorry about that."

"Aspen, Lil," Betty smirked. "Yeah, we all pitched in. Lucky we each have two kids otherwise it would have been too much maths for my head, 'eh Philly."

"So," Chuckie frowned. "Does that mean mountains and skiing."

"You bet is does, Chuckie," Chaz told him. "We're leaving the 19th December and coming back on the 2nd of January."

"That's not all," Howard explained. "We are also taking a two day train ride either way. I've never been on a train that long!" Howard had always been a big fan of trains so this was probably a big deal to him.

The family continued to converse in excitement but for Tommy the room had gone quiet as he fell into thought. Two weeks, two long weeks up in the mountains. That wasn't what was bothering him so much. See, a train journey is where people are trapped together, and up in the mountains they could hardly avoid each-other. He gulped, what this really meant was two, long weeks trapped with Lil. This could either be really bad, or really good. Knowing his luck, it would definitely be the former.

"But," Dil interrupted, "if we're going on a ski trip, there's one problem… none of us can ski."

"We know," Kira explained. "So we have arranged you all to have two lessons a week so when you get out there you can really know what you are doing."

"Starting tomorrow," Stu interjected.

The room went silent again for Tommy; not only would he be trapped with Lil for two weeks, he would have to see her every week, twice.

Here we go, he thought.

End of Chapter 4

I enjoyed writing this one as well. Stay tuned for the next chapter: "Damn these Slopes!"


	25. Chapter 3: Damn These Slopes!

Author's note: I don't know how high up I will be after this chapter, but at 59k words it puts me at the third longest rugrats fan fiction on here! Yay! Thanks for all the support and continue to review and feel free to message me.

Chapter 3: Damn these Slopes

[K]

"I'm going to fall," Phil sighed. Kimi turned to see him looking up, worried, at the slope ahead of them. It was one of those fake ones with a rope like floor.

"Don't worry, Phil," she comforted, laying a hand on his shoulder and directing him to the left. "There's a baby one over there."

Phil looked. "Still too high," he shook his head. "If I fell head first, it could still kill me!"

"How long have you been afraid of heights?" Chuckie asked.

"No idea," Phil replied. "I didn't know I was until just now!"

"Hey, Tommy," Dil said, nudging his brother. Kimi and Phil turned, expecting Dil to say something either stupid or random. "Do you think people can be born without eyelids?" Yeah, they were right.

Kimi laughed. "Why?" she asked. "Seriously, Dil, why do you ask these things?"

"Well," he scratched his head. "I was watching Family guy last night…"

"As all great stories begin," Phil interrupted.

"Anyway," Dil continued. "It was the episode with the toads and stuff." They nodded. "When Peter dresses up as Lando, he says 'your kids will be born without eyelids'. It got me thinking, how would you sleep?"

"I have no idea," Tommy said.

"Seriously," Phil said anxiously, getting away from the pointless conversation. "How long is the advisor going to be? I'm anxious enough already."

"You weren't this bad before your filling," Kimi reminded him. Kimi had come with Phil when he had to get a filling a month ago and he was fine; Kimi had been in tears when she had to have a needle in her gum.

"Yeah, but you know where you stand with a filling," Phil explained. "I'm not going to die in a filling." Phil sat down on the floor. "I doubt it, Dil," Phil answered the earlier question. "Look it up, you have a phone."

"Oh yeah," he said, pulling his phone out of his pocket.

"That should keep him entertained for a while," Chuckie remarked.

Kimi couldn't describe how excited she was for these next couple of weeks. Christmas was awesome; she had always loved Christmas. Now, though, she was going to spend it in the snow. Snow was her favourite weather, by far. Nothing could beat a hot chocolate by a fire at Christmas; it was so romantic. She had only been in the mountains, properly, once. It hadn't been anything great, she just felt jealous constantly over Tommy (something that she had kept to herself her whole life). She had always wanted to learn how to ski properly, as well.

"I can't really be that excited," Chuckie moaned.

"Is this going to be about the chess, again," Kimi complained.

"Yeah," Chuckie told her. "It's Tuesday the sixth, Kimi, and my tournament is on the 19th. Do the math; thirteen days until I embarrass myself!"

"You're playing chess, dude," Dil interjected, looking up from his phone. "It's embarrassing as it is."

"Thanks for that," Chuckie said.

"Don't mention it."

"Just ease up, Chuck," Tommy told him. "There's no worry, you'll be fine. You can just think, even if you do badly there is a trip afterward."

"What?" he argued. "A trip up to mountains, you know how terrified I am of…"

"Everything," Kimi finished for him.

There was a pause for a moment as the group simultaneously imagined the various events where Chuckie had proved his cowardice. "Err," Tommy said. "Phil, where's your sister?"

"Oh, err," Phil frowned. "You know what, I'm not sure. She said she would be here at five and it's ten past. The lessons don't start until half past so no need to worry." He paused. "Why do you ask?"

Kimi had something that all girls her age did: female intuition or the act of figuring out who everyone liked. Somehow, Phil had been born with this too and Kimi knew the dreaded pause when Phil had figured something out. "No reason," Tommy shrugged. "I just expected everyone to be here."

"Fair enough," Phil said, letting that be the end of it.

Yeah, it was obvious that Tommy had the 'hots' for Lil. Actually, for a while, Kimi had thought that Lil had felt the same about Tommy for a while. Something must have happened, because things seemed really tense last night.

[C]

The next thirty minutes passed slowly for Chuckie until a slim, happy-go-lucky personality appeared out of the changing room/entrance building: their teacher. "Hey guys," he said. Chuckie had hit the nail right on the head with this one. "Is this," he checked a piece of paper in his hand, "the Finster party, or whatever?"

"Yes, it is," Chuckie said.

"Right, ok," he said. "I'm Jack, Jack Bradley, and, as you know, I'm going to be your skiing teacher before you go on the lovely trip to Aspen for Christmas. You're lucky devils."

"Hot," Chuckie heard Kimi whisper behind him.

"Totally," Phil replied.

Jack was about twenty four, had brown hair with blonde highlights and was wearing the uniform of the organisation. A stereotype of a skier, as Chuckie thought. He had short stubble on his face but it was a look rather than like Edward (a lack of care).

"So, sorry to remind y'all of school, but I have to take a role call," he said. "Right, Chuckie Finster…" the list went on, each with a small "here" or "hi" from everyone, until (apparently, oddly, the list wasn't in alphabetical order), he said. "Lil Deville." No one responded so he looked up. "I thought we looked short, any idea where, I assume, your sister is, Phil?"

Phil opened his mouth to reply, when a flustered looking Lil burst through the door that Jack had just come through. "You're really making a habit of this, Lil," Phil nodded.

"Shut up, Phillip," Lil replied. "The traffic was terrible; Brad and I were stuck for ages!"

"Oh, this is Lil," Jack smiled. "Come over here, then."

"Hi," she smiled at him.

After Lil had joined them, and after Chuckie noticed an exchange of looks between Tommy and Lil, Jack continued. "Anyway," he said. "Your parents have told me that you're going to Aspen for Christmas, which is awesome, and they want you prepared and to be epic skiers by the time you get there."

"You'll get chills, all through your body," Dil sang, gently.

"Shut up, Dil," Tommy nudged him.

"I watched that last night, as well," Jack smiled. "So, yeah, you have four lessons with me. Each of them is two hours long. It sounds like a small time, but trust me, with me as your teacher you'll be great in no time." He clapped his hands together. "But, before we get up on that little slope," he pointed to the one Phil had been complaining about earlier, "you have to know what you're doing, so let's just cover the basics."

Half an hour went by quickly and Chuckie couldn't help but enjoy it; Jack was a surprisingly entertaining teacher. They hadn't got up on the slope yet, but Jack had shown them the straight-inward pointing skis to change speed; Chuckie wasn't entirely sure how to explain it. "So, that's the basics of it," Jack said, "But you won't know how good you are until you try it."

Jack grabbed his skis. "Up we go," he said, gesturing to the steps.

"It feels like death row," Phil muttered.

"Not a fan of heights?" Jack asked.

"Not so of a problem with heights," Phil said, frowning. "I just really hate falling."

"Ouch," Jack replied. "Well, you have a problem. You're going to be doing it a lot for the next couple of weeks."

They trudged up together.

[L]

Well, this is awful! Lil thought as she tailed behind the gang as they headed, one by one, down the slope. Tommy Pickles, why are you so damn cute?

"Well, here goes nothing," Tommy said, and launched himself down.

"You're going to fast!" Jack shouted. "Try and slow down!" Tommy curled his skis in and slowly came to a stop at the bottom. "You're a natural, nice one."

Good at skiing as well. They hadn't spoken since Tommy lashed out at her. That wasn't fair, of course, all he had done was tell her the truth. She knew that, she knew that he was one hundred and fifty percent right in everything that he had said. She was just too proud, or too stubborn, to admit that.

"Right," he brother said, tightening his bandana tightly.

"You really need a haircut, Phillip," Kimi commented. Phil's hair was quite long, in a centre parting like it always had been. He had taken to wearing a bandana with the words "HELLS YEAH" written on it.

"So do you," Phil quipped, preparing himself to go down the slope. "You should try the bald look; I think it would suit you!"

"Come on then," Kimi tapped Phil on the back, pushing him down the slope.

"Oh my God!" Phil bellowed as he went down on the skis. He tried to slow down, but couldn't: he wasn't skilled enough.

Tommy, who was walking around the bottom listening to music, didn't notice that Phil was hurtling toward him. "Tommy!" Phil shouted. "Get out of the way!"

"Huh?" Tommy said, taking his earphone out.

Tommy face as he saw Phil coming toward him was comical, but his dive was perfect to get out of the way as Phil eventually managed to stop himself.

Phil turned around and shook his head rapidly. "Well," he said, brushing his shirt off. "I'm never going to get the hang of this."


	26. Chapter 4: Benign Chatter and Boredom

**A/N: It's been so long, and a horribly long haitus, and I do apologise, but I'm back, and I'll try and continue with this story. A lot's going on in my life, as I'm sure is with yours. Enjoy, and I hope you are still interested ^^. **

Chapter 4: Benign Chatter and Boredom

[P]

Phil hadn't been skiing for long, but his legs were getting weaker, and weaker. As he struggled out of Chuckie's car, with the whole gang laughing at him, he kept reminding himself why he was trying so hard. The answer wasn't deep, nor did it require Freud to figure it out. Like the little boy that he was, he wanted to be good so he could impress Kimi.

When he thought about the ski trip, which was getting closer and closer, he had millions of scenarios playing out in his head. All sorts of cheesy, romantic scenes with Kimi and he together as the snow fell. Had he told his younger self this, his younger self probably would have vomited, then smacked him around for being such a chick. And that was coming from a kid who liked to roll around in mud! Snow was definitely the most romantic weather, no doubt about it.

_God, damn it, Phil_, he thought, grimacing at himself as he struggled toward the house. _What the hell happened to you?_

He waved goodbye to the gang, and Lil pushed him out of the way. "What the hell, Lillian?" he complained. "What was that for?"

Lillian turned, and she was looking very pleased with herself. "I have things to do, Phil," she explained to him, and he felt like he was being lectured by a school teacher. "I can't wait whilst you limp around like an old man without his cane."

Phil opened his mouth to reply, but he was cut off. "You can't complain," she said. "You're the one who sucks at balance."

"That's not my fault," he sulked, watching Chuckie's car pull away, and through the back window at Kimi. "I can't help being useless at it."

Lil mumbled something about him being an idiot, and pushed their front door open. "We're home, mom and dad," she called.

"I heard the door!" they heard their mom call. "I'm not that old, for goodness sake! I'm not losing my hearing just yet."

They heard their mother trot through the house towards them. As she appeared, she instantly turned her head to Phil. "What happened to you?" she asked. "You look like you've been the wars."

Phil knew his mom was teasing; she and Lil had a lot of fun poking fun at him. "You break any bones, Philly?" she continued. "Do we need to rush you down the hospital."

"I'm fine," he said.

"Don't forget, you need to go upstairs and do all your homework," she said, as she always did when Phil got home.

"I know, I know," he grumbled. "Lil has work to do, too. How come I always get reminded."

"'cause your sister's not a lazy runt," she laughed, reaching up and rapping him on the head with her knuckle. "And you are."

Phil was a funny chap, and though he could see a lot of things that others couldn't, he sometimes forgot some things which were staring him right in the face. When did he get so tall? His mother, who was a large lady, herself, was now shorter than him, and he was looking down at her. When the hell did that happen? "You need a haircut, Phil, you look like a girl?" his mom complained, pulling, gently, at one of the locks, which were starting to curl.

"I know, I know," he grumbled, watching his sister hurry upstairs. "I get Chuckie to drop me off, tomorrow."

"Good to hear it," she said. "Well, what you waiting for? Get upstairs and hit the books."

He saluted. "Yes, sir!"

"That's ma'am, to you!" she called, as Phil hurried up the stairs, "and don't you forget it!"

The first thing Phil did, when he got to his room, was collapse onto his bed, face in his pillow. It had been a while, now, since Kimi's old obsession, Edward, had left. She hadn't mentioned him for a while, and he hoped Kimi had forgotten about him. _That's wishful thinking, there, Phil! _His subconscious told him.

_Thank you, _he found himself thinking back.

_Hey, you know that trip you're looking forward to? _His mind asked.

_Of course I do. _He replied. (**A/N: Phil is not schizophrenic, he's just thinking ^^) ** It had been all he was thing about.

_Well,_ _what if you go, and instead of the movie like scenes you imagine, Kimi finds another Edward and you're shunted to the side again? _

His own brain was laughing at him, that's absolutely fantastic. This had crossed his mind, much more than once. _Not going to happen, _he assured himself. _Somehow, I doubt she'll be meeting another Edward, you don't meet many like him. _

_Don't be so arrogant, you think you're only beaten by Edward? _His worrying head taunted.

This was true. He knew he wasn't good looking, with his quite round face and messy hair (which got worse the more you combed it). He wasn't muscular, sporty and certainly not in Kimi's league. He tried to ignore them, as it made him want to break something, but Kimi got more than passing glances from the other guys at school.

"Phil," his sister called, in her most childish voice, "mummy asked you to work!"

"I am!" he called back.

"No, you're not!" she returned. He heard her rush round to bust him. He tried getting up, but he just ended up rolling off the bed, landing on the floor. "Nice try," Lil said.

Phil looked over to his sister, who's hair looked more combed than it was before. "You going out again?" he asked.

"Yeah, Brad's picking me up," she said.

"Him again?" Phil said.

"Yeah, is that a problem," Lil asked.

"Actually, there is," Phil replied. "He's an idiot."

Lil glared at him. "He's not an idiot," she growled. "Just because he not a genius, that doesn't make him an idiot."

"True," Phil admitted. "But I'm not saying he's an idiot because he's not a genius, I'm saying he is an idiot, because he is one."

"You just shut your face, or I'll tell him you said that," she threatened.

Brad might have been an idiot, but since he was a footballer, and one of the most popular jocks, he was huge, and could easily knock Phil on his back. "You'd really turn in your own brother?" he asked. There was something wrong, here. Despite Lil's glare, she didn't look too fussed. Maybe she wasn't as interested in Brad as she pretended.

"I would if you made me," Lil retorted. That was true, Lil had got him in trouble a lot through their life together; that was just what sister's were for.

[T]

"Hurry up, Chuckie," Kimi groaned.

Despite Kimi's best efforts, she couldn't stop Chuckie from stopping at the local store to grab a comic book and computer magazine. Whilst Chuckie searched through the magazine section, Tommy and Kimi stood at the candy isle, aimlessly looking at them. "Are we going to buy something?" Tommy asked, scratching his head.

"If anything jumps out, then yeah!" Kimi told him, her thumb on her chin.

Tommy looked over, seeing Kimi deep in thought. "You're really giving chocolate a lot of thought," he laughed.

"Yep," she smiled. "You have a lot on your mind, too!"

Tommy frowned. "What's that supposed to mean?" he asked.

Kimi looked over, a mischievous grin on her face. "Oh, come on, dude," she said. "You don't have to be an egghead to figure you out." Tommy just stared at her, blank faced. "It doesn't matter," she said.

Tommy, hoping she wasn't talking about what he really was thinking about, didn't press. "Not long now," he sighed, glad that he was right. "Just think, in a week's time, we'll be travelling away from this school, all the way to Colorado!"

"I know!" Kimi squealed, her eyes lighting up. "I can't wait!"

"Are you going to be a girly girl?" Tommy asked. "You know, go to the spa? The mud baths? Get your nails done?"

Kimi grimaced. "How long have you known me, Tommy Pickles?" she asked.

"Too long," Tommy grinned. He wasn't really listening, too busy thinking about Lil. The quips between the two of them were almost rehearsed, now.

"That's right," she said. "I'm not Angelica, or Lil. I love sports, and snow, and watching Phil fall off cliffs."

"He is so screwed," Tommy commented. "The guy cannot even balance when he's not moving! Falling off a cliff is a bit much, don't you think?"

"He'll be fine," she laughed. "There's enough snow to catch him." Her head turned, rapidly, in the direction of Chuckie. Tommy followed her eyes. If it had been anyone else, you would think they were taking the mickey out of someone. Chuckie was flicking through a magazine, eyes darting around the pages. He looked a bit like a robot.

"Chuckie!" Kimi called.

"Give me a second!" Chuckie growled.

"Alright, alright," Kimi mocked. "Keep your hair on, tough guy."

"Watch out, Kimi," Tommy whispered, not wanting to offend his best friend. "He'll turn completely pink, and become the Incredible Sulk."

Kimi burst out laughing. "I wish I could draw!" she said. "We could make a comic book series!"

"Stranger things have been made," Tommy noted. "I don't think Chuckie ever got over the Armadillo series, even though he said he did."

"True," she nodded. "Your camera is falling out," she said, pointing.

Tommy looked down at his bag, and saw she was right. "Crap," Tommy said, grabbing it. "Thanks, Kimi, my parents would skin me alive if I broke this."

"Are you going to film us forever?" she sighed.

"I'm not at the moment," he said. Tommy, who was getting very concerned about how fast his life was passing, and wanted to capture it. He had been recording as much as he could, and editing it. "When we're all eighty, and complaining all the time, it will be fun to look back."

"Not really," Kimi said, finally reaching down and grabbing a chocolate bar. "Being a kid sucks."

"Yeah, it must suck to be able to take a holiday to Aspen," Chuckie said. He had found what he had wanted... finally.

"Oh, you're done, are you?" Kimi asked.

"Yes," Chuckie replied, as stiffly as he always did. He pushed his glasses up his face, and reminded Tommy that he had taped them together. He showed them the computer magazine, with a very interesting front cover: "Ten things you didn't know about Windows 7: Ultimate!".

"Well, I don't know what I would do without that knowledge," Kimi said. Chuckie nodded and Tommy grinned: one of the most funny characteristic of Chuckie's personality was that he sometimes didn't know when people weren't interested, or were pretending to be. "You know, you can get all of that online?"

"Yes," he said. "But, as you know, I have a magazine collection."

"That's really, really interesting," Kimi told him. "But, can you buy this so we can get out of here. I have T.V to watch, and homework not to do!"

"Yes, yes, I'm on it," Chuckie said. "I suppose you want me to buy that, too." He gestured toward the chocolate bar in Kimi's hand.

"You know me so well," she grinned. "Catch!" she said, throwing it to him. Despite what she thought, Chuckie caught it. "Nice catch!"

"I have my moments," he commented, and headed over to the counter.

[K]

Chuckie's old car grumbled to a halt outside of Tommy's house, and he made for the door. "I feel like a walk," Kimi said.

"After all of that work skiing?" Chuckie asked. "How can you not be tired?"

"I'm just not. You two want to go?" she asked.

Kimi could be a clever little minx, as she put it, when she wanted to be. She was no Hannibal Lecter, she just wanted a chat with Tommy, and didn't want to offend Chuckie. "I could walk," Tommy said. "Got nothing better to do."

"You've got maths work," Kimi noted, grinning.

"It can wait. I can always get Phil to do it," Tommy replied.

"I don't know about that," Kimi said.

"You want to stay here then, Kimi?" Chuckie asked. "Sorry, but I can't come back and pick you up."

"That's fine," Kimi said. "I can walk back. Need to get rid of the calories from that chocolate."

"You're such a girl, Kimi," Tommy said.

"Hey, I know guys who care about their weight, too!" she said, getting out of the car. "See you later, Chuckie, tell mom and dad I'll be back later."

"Will do," he said. "Bye Tommy."

"See you tomorrow, Chuckie," he said, tapping the car as it pulled away down the road.

After a second of silence, Tommy looked over to Kimi. "So, what did you want to talk about?" he asked.

"What makes you think I have an agenda?" she asked. He was right, of course, she wanted to talk to him. But, it was less about a specific thing, and more about how she hadn't spoken to Tommy, one to one, in ages.

"That comment," he grinned. "I was just guessing."

"Damn you, Tommy Pickles," she said. "Come on," she gestured over to the path ahead of her.

"So, what did you want to talk about?" he asked, after a while.

"Not a lot, just wanted to chat," Kimi admitted. "We haven't spoken in ages."

"Kimi, we just spent over two hours skiing, what do you mean we haven't spoken?"

"When was the last time it was just the two of us?" she asked.

Tommy had to think about that one for a while. "Yeah, actually, you're right. We are usually in a pack," he nodded. "All right then, Kimi, I'll play along. How have you been?"

"It feels like we're on a chat room, or something," she noted. "You know that stupid first thing people say. It's always: Hello, how are you? Then you say, I'm good, thanks, and then say what about you?"

"You're rambling, Kimi," Tommy said.

"I know."

"So," Tommy said, looking at the floor. "How you feeling about... you know?"

"About Edward?" Kimi asked. "I'm all right about that. I mean, come on, it was only about two weeks."

Kimi was very conflicted about Edward. She connected with him, and liked that he, like her, didn't fit in, didn't like doing as he was told. She was always 'into' that kind of guy. But things were never that simple. She did miss him, but her feelings were shifting. The more she thought about it, the more she realised she never did get over Phil. Maybe she channelled that love into Edward, as she knew she couldn't be with Phil. Was it that simple.

"You're deep in thought again, Kimi," Tommy said. Kimi had been so deep in thought, she had forgotten where she was. "Is it chocolate this time, too?"

"Yeah, I guess I am," she replied. "It feels weird."

"You don't use that noggin' often," Tommy said, poking her head.

"Hey, hey!" she said, gently slapping his hand away. "I have my moments."

"Yeah, I've heard that before," Tommy said. "Look at Dil, he's pretty brilliant sometimes, bu he believes that he is in direct contact with aliens!"

"What if he really is," Kimi said. "Have we ever really considered that."

Tommy raised his eyebrow at her.

"I mean, think about it," she said. "We know that Dil's a smart kid, and he is a little..." she paused. "Well, he is a little bit on the crazy side. But, since he's clever, maybe he really is talking to aliens."

"I really hope you're joking," Tommy said. "Or has somebody put something in your drink?"

[D]

_BZZ BZZ! _

Dil's alarm clock shouted in his ears. "Good morning, world," he said, standing, and pulling off the headphones he had been wearing. Dil, unlike most people, slept with headphones on, which would mean his alarm would only wake him. "Been up to anything interesting, while I was asleep?"

Dil looked around his room, at the mess: the socks on his t.v aerial, and smiled. "Everything's just as I left it." He then looked to his computer, with unfinished homework laying in a disordered pile. "Perfect," he commented.

Dil hadn't forgotten about the fact that his parents, and school, wanted him to move up into high school. He figured that, if he stopped doing homework, and maintained a solid B average, they would leave him alone.

"You know what?" Dil muttered, as he stumbled out of his bedroom and down the hall. "I'm really, really bored at the moment! Really, really bored."

After Dil had showered, not combed his hair, and pulled the nearest clothes to him over his body, he headed back to his computer. It had crossed his mind that things might be more interesting, and maybe it wuld be, but being the young kid in a school filled with 'hormone controlled robots' didn't sound like much fun, and he knew his older brother wouldn't want to hang with him; he would be alone.

"You woke me, Dil... again," Dil heard a weary voice behind him complain. He turned, seeing a tired Tommy, rubbing his eyes, looking cross.

"I tried, bro, I really did," Dil told him. "I'm still wearing the headphones," he gestured to them.

"Yeah, well, you talking to yourself was what did it this time."

"Oh," Dil said, switching his computer on. "You heard that?"

"I did," Tommy whispered, realising that his parents were still asleep. His mother was a real gargoyle if you woke her up. "What do you mean by "really bored at the moment.""

"I mean I am," Dil admitted. "But don't tell Mum and Dad. They will just use it as an excuse to push me up into high school."

"Don't worry, Dil, I got that," Tommy replied. "Why are you bored, then?"

Dil turned. "Everything's just the same, you know?" he explained, sighing. "I don't get it. A few years ago, everything was interesting. But now..." he trailed off.

"Well, firstly, don't go telling Mum about this. Not only will she force you into high school, but she might also take you to another shild psychologist," Tommy told him.

Dil groaned. "I remember last time." When Dil had been younger, his mother had verbally assaulted his headteacher for, basically, calling Dil odd and making it a problem. However, she still always wanted to make sure he was happy, and successful, and her weapon of choice was getting him to talk to a specialist.

"And also, everyone's bored, Dil," he explained. "I get like it all the time."

"Thanks for helping," he mumbled, losing interest and turning back to his computer.

Tommy laughed. "You wait until High school," he said, as he headed down to the bathroom. "Not only will you be bored, but you;ll also be under a lot of pressure!"

_I'll look forward to it_, Dil thought to himself.

[D]

"Blah Blah Blah Blah" was all Dil heard in his class room when the other kids talked. They didn't say anything, really, just rambled on about things. Dil was silent, folding a piece of paper (he had learnt origami when he was younger) and eyeing the empty seat beside him. Dil's oddities had always isolated him, and it had never bothered him (he used to think he had a higher calling). Now, it did.

"OK then, that's enough," their loud, sometimes rude, teacher Mr. Thompson called. "Mouths shut, asses on seats."

This caused the class to laugh as they followed his order. "I'm sure lots and lots of interesting, fantastic things happened in the 24 hours since you were last here," he said sarcastically. As a english teacher, he seemed to follow the crowd by being a good speaker, but Dil always thought he cared to much about what the kids thought of him. "So, did you all..."

Much to Mr. Thompson's annoyance, he was cut off by three knocks at the door. "Enter!" he said, in his usual manner.

It was the headteacher, a stern faced, powerful women named Mrs. Primm, followed by a small girl. A kid, taking the mickey, stood up sarcastically, and saluted. The rest of the class giggled under their breath. "Sit down, Josh," she scolded. "Unless you want to come back with me to my office."

"Sorry, miss," he said, sitting down and looking around (making sure everyone else had seen him). Dil shook his head. _Come on, _he sighed, _Are you that fussed about what everyone thought. _Dil wasn't interested in what Mrs. Prim was going to say, so he got back to folding the piece of paper, which was forming nicely into a bird.

"Well, Mr. Thompson and the rest of you," Mrs. Primm announced. "You have a new student." She gestured to the girl behind her, who waved, seeming pretty uninterested in the fact that everyone was looking at her, judging her on her every move.

When Dil heard new student, his ears pricked up and he followed them,. Looking toward the new girl. The first thing he noticed was that... well, she was very, very pretty. Her hair was very wavy, and bright blonde. Not bleached, it didn't glow white. Her eyes were blue, and her cheeks were sharp. She wore a blue top and black joggers, but Dil could tell, from her figure, that she was sporty. What was weird was that she didn't seem to care about being watched. Could she be a performer of some sort?

"So, what's your name, then?" Mr. Thompson asked.

"I'm Valentina," she said.

_Interesting, _Dil thought. _On top of everything else, she's Russian. _


	27. Chapter 5: In Other News

Author's Note: Wow. It's been nearly two years since I started this story. The people who enjoyed/enjoy it are two years older, and so am I, and it's interesting and strange to look back at my old writing, and carry on.

I'm very glad people are still reading, reviewing and writing to me, and with almost 100 reviews, I'm happy. Thanks to all the readers, especially those who were there from the beginning and are still reading. Just quickly, to The Critic, as I thought his review was interesing: Like I said, I wrote this almost two years ago, so I'm not one hundred percent certain why people winked all the time, but I'm pretty sure it was to establish a childlike attitude to the characters, rather than making them stiff and lifeless.

Special thanks to finsterboy97, for continuing to bug me on doing this! ^^

**Anyway, enjoy the chapter!**

**Chapter 5: In Other News**

[C]

As much as Chuckie struggled with certain things, his life wasn't going too bad at the moment. And, as he pushed his queen forward, checkmating his friend, he grinned smugly. Defeating someone, even if it was in something as seemingly uninteresting as chess, was great. However, Chuckie still felt embarrassed when he beat someone; he guessed it was nerves, if they lost their temper. Chuckie hated confrontation.

"That is that, then," Chuckie concluded, trying to sound as unassuming as possible.

"Yeah, it is," Steve smiled. "Good game."

Steve was one of the guys Chuckie has spent the most of his Freshman year with, when the rest of his friends were messing around with Middle School. He was a short, bowl cut, asian boy, who used to have thick glasses, but had replaced them with contact lenses. He always wore shirts with World of Warcraft, and other gaming, characters. It didn't do him any favours when it came to what people said about it. When Chuckie told Phil he knew a Chinese boy, with a heavy Chinese accent, Phil had found it very, very funny.

Chuckie's first day at high school was absolutely awful, and the night before was even worse. He lay awake most of night, eyes wide, counting down the hours. Being the eldest of his closest friends, he would enter completely alone.

However, as the first week went through, he met a few people he liked. Nothing on his real friends, Tommy and the rest, but still, they weren't bad. Steve was the main one, and it was he who told him about the chess club. Steve's elder brother was the best player in the club, and had left last year, and was apparently a lot smarter than Steve. You would expect Steve to have a chip on his shoulder about it, but he didn't; he bragged about his "borderline genius" brother all the time.

"Looking forward to the competition, then, Chuckie?" Steve asked, looking around the room at the other kids playing. Ten kids in the room wasn't bad for a school chess club, especially since it was one of the most laughed at games a kid could play.

"Not really," Chuckie timidly grinned.

Chuckie was taking a winter chess championship. It wasn't that big of a deal, but there was a 1500 dollar prize, which would be nice for him. It was also be good to finally be good at something. At the start of the year, he felt a lot better about it. That was until he met Edward, and was beaten without Edward really trying.

Chuckie didn't swear often, but he found himself swearing when he thought of Edward. It was jealousy, plain and simple. His brain was everything he had, and whilst he felt it wasn't great, he liked it.

God, what if Edward was there?

"Aren't you going on holiday soon?" Steve asked, whilst he sorted the board out again, and twisting the black queen around between his thumb and forefinger.

"Yeah," Chuckie replied. "Right at the end of the year."

"You're going away for Christmas?"

"Yeah," Chuckie replied.

"Is yours one of those families which goes to a hot part of the world during Christmas?" he asked. "My aunt does that. I don't get it, haven't people like that ever heard 'I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas'?"

Chuckie laughed. "I guess the haven't," he answered. "But no, we're not, my family, and some of my friend's families, have decided to go to Aspen."

"Wow," Steve said. Then he laughed. "I don't see you as a skier, to be honest."

"I'm not the worst!" Chuckie told him. This was true. For some reason, Phil was way worse than him. "We've being going to training."

"Your parents must be loaded, dude."

Chuckie was about to reply, when his five year old phone vibrated in his pocket. _Angelica, _was written on the screen. Chuckie didn't read it, in case someone was looking, and pushed the phone back into his trousers.

"Well, who was that?" Steve asked, rudely.

"Oh," Chuckie replied. "It was no one."

[P]

Phil sat, staring out of the window, in English class. The clouds were looking greyer, and more miserable, and were starting to threaten snow. For some reason, it was weather like this that caused him to think the most.

He and Kimi were getting on again, and it was almost back to normal. Kimi had been, well, a bit of a bitch to him (as much as he hated himself for thinking that). Had he been too quick to forgive her? He didn't think so; she was a teenage girl. There were a few things that Phil understood well, and a few more he understood a little bit. Teenage girls, however, were one of the things where he definitely needed a teacher. Ironically, Kimi was the one who taught him about the way the other sex behaves, and why. And now, he was using that information on his teacher.

For a reason Phil definitely couldn't figure out, Kimi hadn't been all that successful with guys. Phil used to think she was into that 'Z' guy, but it turned out she wasn't; it was Tommy whom she was after. Turned out everyone knew it, except for Phil, until much later. After that, she'd not been with anyone. Phi didn't trust his opinion, but he was sure he'd seen guys going for her at the end of middle school, and through high school; though "going" would have to be changed to "lusting". Phil found himself clenching his fists after that thought.

"Phil," an hoarse voice growled. He looked over to see Mr. Jason looking displeased. "Staring out of the window, again?"

"Sorry, Mr. Jason," Phil replied.

"Right," Mr. Jason replied. "You'd do well to listen. You may think you're a genius, but you're not. You're just a kid with too big a head."

"I..." Phil started to growl, wanting to argue.

"Did I ask you reply?" he asked.

While his parents were over the moon to have two twins with brains it their heads, not everyone had been so happy with the revelation. Before, Phil was just thought of as that kid with fairly average grades, who didn't pay attention, and goofed of at every opportunity. The teachers just dismissed him, assuming he didn't get it, and occasionally punished him if he got to cheeky. Now, his teachers had been split into two "camps":

On the one hand, there were the teachers who didn't believe it, or didn't care. These teachers acted as normal, and Phil was very grateful of that. On the other hand, were the teachers that took it personally. Now, they knew he could do it, and wasn't paying attention because it was too easy, or something like that. They took it as arrogance. The truth was, Phil had other things to think about. Mr. Jason was not only a member of the second camp, he was its leader.

Mr. Jason was a large, balding man with a thick, brown beard and a fierce and infamous temper. His baldness was probably why he was so annoyed. He pulled his trousers up over his fat belly, and scratched it when he was about to 'throw the book' at someone. In some lights, his brown eyes looked red.

"No, sir," Phil said through gritted teeth.

"You replied anyway," Mr. Jason replied, an evil grin plastered upon his bearded, fat face. He tutted, shaking his head comically. The rest of the class was s smirking, by this point. "Well, you mother's going to have to hear about this." The class laughed at this. "And you can have a detention, to go with it. That will teach you to listen during lessons."

Phil was clenching his fists so hard under the table that he swore he had broken the skin. Not wanting to give the teacher the satisfaction of arguing with him, Phil bit his lip and, for one of the rare times, kept his mouth shut.

After a long, agonising half hour, the bell finally rang, and Phil made for the door. "Wait there, Phil," he heard Mr. Jason call as he made for the door.

_Damn it, _Phil thought, _almost made it. _

"Come back here," Mr Jason called, again. Phil had his back to Mr. Jason, but he could hear the smile.

"Yes, Mr. Jason," Phil forced in the most polite voice he could muster, given the circumstances.

Phil trotted back, trying to be as unassuming as possible. See, it wasn't that Phil was afraid of Mr. Jason. In fact, Phil had yet to meet a teacher that he was frightened of. Really, he was worried about his mum finding out, and locking him in the house for a week with hours of study. Being forced to fake a smile and "grin and take it" sucked. It sucked hard. And, what's worse, Phil was almost certain that Mr. Jason knew it, too.

Mr. Jason faked a sigh. "Why do you not listen to me, Phil," he asked.

"I'm sorry," Phil replied.

"I'm sorry, sir" Mr. Jason corrected.

The urge to reply 'there's no need to call me sir, Mr Jason" was almost unbearable. Almost. "I m sorry, sir," Phil replied.

"That's better," Mr. Jason said. "See, this is a matter of respect. And that you show me none..."

And then Phil zoned out, nodding at regular intervals, and occasionally saying: "Yes, sir,". His mind went back to where it was before. Or, to whom it was dwelling on. The thought of snow falling down around him and Kimi... he was literally scratching the days, with a pen, on his calender.

"And what will happen next time?" Mr Jason asked.

"I will concentrate," Phil replied, his voice sounding almost robotic.

"That's better," Mr. Jason said. "You may go."

Phil made for the door, counting his blessings that Mr. Jason had forgotten the detention. "Oh, and not so fast, Phil," Mr. Jason called, and Phil swore under his breath. "Don't forget your detention, this Wednesday, after school."

"I'll be there," Phil said, leaving the room.

When he finally got out, he breathed in deeply. "Freedom," he grinned, feeling like he had escaped a prison. When he turned to head to the library for his free period, he found Tommy leaning against the wall, messing about with his Ipod. "Yo, Tommy," Phil greeted, glad to see a friend. Free periods were so boring, alone.

Tommy looked up. "Phil, my man," he said. "Heard a bit of your discussion with Mr. Jason." He shook his head. "I hate that guy. Is he still giving you a hard time."

"You know it," Phil replied.

"What was it for this time?"

"Staring out of the window, I think," Phil explained. "But he'd probably get me for breathing too loudly, or something, if I hadn't been doing that." Phil pushed his hair out of his face, and reminded himself that he needed a hair cut. "Anyway, you've got a free now, right?"

Tommy nodded. "Yeah," he told him.

"Where do you want to go?" Phil asked. "I was going to go to the library." He usually ran into Kimi, there, but she had P.E...

"No way," Tommy replied. "I can't take that librarian."

Phil laughed. "I love being loud in there," he grinned, gesturing forward, and starting to walk. "Her head shoots up, like a Meerkat, or something, and she comes waddling over."

Tommy laughed, too. Then, after a pause, he became slightly more serious. "So, Phil," he said. "How's Lil been?"

"She's been all right," Phil told him. "Been a bit moody lately, going out all the time and coming back worse. She's best when she's at skiing, she must like it. Why'd you ask?"

"Even though we don't hang out any more," Tommy said, "she's still my friend, and I miss her, you know."

"Watch it, bro, you'll start crying on me," Phil joked. Though, he was barely listening; his teeth were grinding at the thought of his damn teacher. I will show him, he thought, fighting hard not to raise his fist. Though, this did make him grin, imagining what Tommy's face would be if he started shaking his fist at mid air.

[L]

"Right, I think it's a bit too cold to be outside today," the P.E teacher, Mrs. Edmunds. This was followed by a collective sigh of relief from the class. P.E teachers seemed to love sending kids out into the cold, to play football. Since the girls sports kit was shorts and a polo shirt, it was horrible in the winter. "As a little treat, girls, y'all be testing out the new equipment."

The class collectively frowned. "We just got a whole set of indoor badminton sets," she explained. "And, on the bright side, y'all get to set them up," she laughed as the class groaned. "Are you sure that y'all don't rehearse? You are all in sync today."

She got showed the class how to set up the equipment, and when she had finished, she continued. "So, we'll be different, and have just two people per net. Makes sense, as so many people are out the with flu." She clapped her hands together. "Let's get together in pairs," she started putting people together. "And Lil and Kimi," she smiled.

Lil smiled as Kimi strolled over to her. "Hi, Lil," she grinned. "Long time no speak."

"Very funny, Kimi," Lil replied. One of their last Skiing lessons before the real deal was last night.

"Yeah," Kimi said. "Not long now, ey?"

Small talk, Lil sighed. Funny how being away from a group for so long can affect you. A year ago, even the smallest thing could set the two of them off. They would talk, and talk, and talk, about anything and everything: about what films they watched, about T.V, about which boys were getting hot, all of the things that teenage girls talk about. It's not as if they didn't have a topic, either: who wouldn't be excited about skiing?

Well, Lil certainly wasn't that person. She was excited. But, that excitement was coupled with an increasing feeling of nausea, and she sometimes felt her heart go up into her throat. She would spend time with her old friends... her real friends. That's true. But, what about Tommy? What about that stupid, stupid argument they had?

"You OK there, Lil?" Kimi asked.

Lil looked over, seeing Kimi tilting her heard in the way she did (it made her look a bit like a curious puppy). "I'm fine," she said, trying to keep the exasperation out of her voice. "Why?"

"You just looked like you walked in on Phil, in the shower," Kimi giggled.

"Don't," Lil joked. "Now I am feeling bad!"

There we go! Every time things went a bit less awkward, for her, she felt herself breath again. I wonder, thought Lil, does Kimi feel this way? Kimi does get a bit strung up, after all. "I know what you mean," Kimi said, strangely.

Silence. Again... "Anyway," Kimi said, handing Lil a badminton racket. "What are we going to do?"

"Do?"

"About the trip, durr!" Kimi said. "I mean, skiing sure is fun, but there are so many other things to do in Aspen! Spas... shops... snow."

"Boys?" Lil suggested, after Kimi completed her sentence. She was a little taken about when this wasn't mentioned. Phil, Chuckie and Tommy wouldn't imagine it, but Kimi was a little boy crazy... well, she was.

"Err, yeah, sure!" Kimi said, nodding along. Lil couldn't help but notice that Kimi was looking anywhere but Lil's eyes.

"Oh," Lil said, from the other side of the badminton net, throwing the shuttlecock. "Kimi Finster, are you keeping a secret from me?"

"No one!" Kimi said, a little too quickly.

"Girls!" the gym teacher called. "You can gossip later, get a game going!"

"Sorry, Mrs. Edmunds," they called.

Lil waited until Mrs. Edmunds became distracted with another game, and then continued. "Kimi... who are you hiding from me?"

"No one!" Kimi repeated, more at ease, this time. "And, anyway, what's going on with your boyfriend? You two are still together?"

Great... why is Kimi so interested all of a sudden? Lil opened her mouth to snap, but closed her mouth again instantly (almost comically). Keep cool, keep collected. "Yeah, we are," Lil said, still not able to keep the sigh out of the voice.

[D]

The new girl, Valentina, stood at the front of the room, her eyes scanning around as the principle left. "Err, hello, Valentina," Mr. Thompson said, clearly thrown by being interrupted, even though he must have known that she was coming; he was the teacher, after all.

"Good morning, Mr. Thompson," she said, looking a bit bemused and taken aback at being greeted so casually by a teacher; Dil guessed that Russian schools were more strict. He had heard as much, but assumed that it was on of those things everyone believed. However, after that quick bewilderment, she returned to a strict position.

Apparently, Mr. Thompson was equally interested, or perhaps bewildered. It was junior high, where kids were just learning to be irritating; When they started "challenging authority". Another thing that intrigued Dil was how... not insecure she was. She'd never met her classmates before, nor the teacher, though she didn't seem at all embarrassed. Dil was like that when he was younger, but purely because he had a lot more to think about.

The class chuckled a bit, at how she was standing upright, and Mr. Thompson nodded to her. "What a nice introduction," he commented, looking to the class. Dil rolled his eyes: "one again, Mr. Thompson, you've demonstrated how much importance you place on the student's opinions", Dil thought.

Valentina, though, seemed nonplussed at the light joke at her expense, and remained silent, and rigid in her stance. "So, do you want to sit down?" Mr. Thompson asked.

"Thank you," Valentina said, her accent incredibly strong.

"There's a seat over there, by young Dil Pickles, free," he gestured casually, "just don't be too put off by Dil, he's a bit odd." He paused, allowing the class to chuckle and whisper amongst themselves for a second. "Isn't that right, Dil?"

"Huh?" Dil said.

"See what I mean?" He asked Valentina, caught off that Dil was "throwing him a bone".

"I'm sure that I will be fine," she said, making her way over to the table.

There was a certain poise to her: her back was straight, and she looked like she had never slouched in her entire life.

After another awful attempt at a joke, Mr Thompson got back to his lesson, and explained to Valentina how the school worked, and what they would be doing. He also put a lot of stress on his "house rules" on what you could and could not do in class. Dil thought that the amount of stress was unnecessary, Valentina clearly hadn't broken a rule in her life!

Once the lesson was fully underway, Dil thought it would be a good idea to introduce himself. However, he was not the coolest person in the world: "Hi, I'm Dil Pickles!" Dil said, always glad to meet someone knew, and holding out his hand.

Valentina looked at the hand, then back to him, then back at the hand, before finally taking it. One thing that you had to note was that she had the straightest jaw that Dil had ever seen. She also looked like she didn't want to talk in class, but didn't want to be rude. So, she kept her eyes on the board, and looked out of the corner of her eye at him. "Dill Pickles?" she asked, a small grin forming at the edge of her mouth.

"Yes, yes," Dil tutted, having heard it a lot before, his voice in a faint whisper. "One 'l', not two, I'm not flavoured pickles. My parents seemed to have had something against me before I was born!"

"I am Valentina Chekhov," she told him. "But is no relation."

"No relation?" Dil asked, confused.

"To Anton Chekhov," she said, looking a surprised when Dil still didn't know what she was talking about. "Anton Chekhov" she repeated, as people do when people don't know something. "The writer."

"You're not helping," Dil joked.

"He's the most famous writer of Russian history, with Tolstoi and Dostoevsky," she said. "I know who Steinbeck is."

Dil only know what Steinbeck has written; he was not a huge fan of reading fiction, it bored him to tears. "You know more than me then," he remarked. "I'm half Russian, but my grandparents are the only Russian things I know."

"You're half Russian?" she asked, looking interested. "What were your grandparent's names?" She sounded slightly suspicious.

"Boris and Minka, err..." he always had a problem pronouncing his grandparent's last name. "Kroptokin... no wait, Kropotkin."

"Kropotkin?" she asked. "Any relation there?"

"To who?"

"Pyotr Alexeyevich Kropotkin," she laughed. "I think the American people would not like your being related him."

"I don't know, as I have no idea you are talking about," he said, amused.

"He's a communist."

"Oh, right," Dil mulled it over. "Yeah, I don't think I'm related to him. Gone are the days where US citizens were hunting down communists though."

"I know, I know," she said. "Don't think that I am stereotyping, it's just interesting that we both share the surnames of such famous Russians!"

"I never knew," Dil remarked.

Valentina opened her mouth to respond, but the teacher cut them off. "Valentina, you don't want to talk to much to Dil, he sucks all of the normality out of the room, but I'll forgive you, as it's your first day. Dil, pay attention."

"Loud and clear, sir!" Dil said, saluting.


	28. Chapter 6: Remember Me?

Author's Note: I don't know how I used to get a chapter done in 1600 or so words. Then again, I was two years younger; I wasn't to blame. ^^. I do sometimes flick through my old writing, in some of the early chapters, and see the grammar mistakes and cringe.

Without realising it, I have projected a parallel into the story, before it even happened. Perhaps I am a fortune teller.

Shout out to Finsterboy97, for kicking me into action, and to all the people who keep reviewing!

In any case, here is another chapter, and I hope you enjoy it!

**Chapter 6: Remember Me?**

**[D]**

_Finally, _Dil thought, as the bell rang, signalling the end of the lesson.

"So, Valentina," Mr. Thompson said, as the kids started packing away and gradually filing out of the room. "How did you find your first lesson here in our little middle school?"

"I enjoyed it," she replied. "I believe I will enjoy being here."

"That's very good," he nodded, then looked to Dil, who was trying to spin his book on the table, and knock it into his bag. "Dil didn't cause you any problems."

"No," she said, looking back to Dil. "He has been nice to me."

"Good, good," Mr. Thompson said. "Well," he clapped in hands together, "with that said, Dil!"

"Yes, sir!" Dil said, standing to attention.

"Don't be silly boy," Mr. Thompson shook his head. "Think you are up to showing Valentina around the school, over the break?"

"I would be honoured," he bowed, eliciting a grin from Valentina.

Mr Thompson sighed. "You don't mind, do you?" he asked Valentina.

"No, that would be fine," she replied, looking over to Dil, who folding pieces of paper, into what looked like space ships.

"You are stronger than I," the teacher said. "Well, I hope you like it at this school. God knows, you may be the only one."

Valentina nodded, stiffly. "Thank you, sir."

After that, Dil and Valentina head out of the room. Dil was grateful: it was so embarrassing seeing Mr. Thompson trying to make jokes, and Valentina not reacting. "So," Dil said, getting rid of the irritating silence. "How do you like the school?"

"It's OK," she replied, and Dil watched her eyes skim around the halls. Again, she had a sort of 'stage presence' to her, and a confidence that most, if not all, new kids do not have. "I preferred my old school."

"I'm not surprised, this place squashes brain waves," Dil replied.

There was another silence; Dil would find it difficult getting used to this. "So, what do you do?" Valentina asked.

"At the moment, I'm trying to make my old radio receive signals from outer space. There's something out there, and I want to hear it." Valentina laughed. Unbeknownst to Dil, she thought he was kidding. "What about you?" he asked, feeling genuinely, and a little to his surprise, curious. He also couldn't help but notice how nice her voice was.

"What do I do?" she mused. "Well, I dance."

Dil had to stop himself rolling his eyes. _Not that silly street rubbish, _he thought. "Dance?" he repeated, trying to keep enthusiasm in his voice; Though, he couldn't understand why he was doing so.

"Dance," she repeated. "I am a ballerina."

Dil stopped walking, taken off guard. "A ballerina," he grinned. "That explains a lot."

"What do you mean?" she asked.

"Just the way you walk around," he said. When he saw she had a questioning look on her face, he mimed the action, and began walking like a robot, with his back straight.

She giggled, but her feathers looked a bit ruffled. "Well, it is not my fault," she told him. "I had to walk around with a book on top of my head."

Dil was taken aback by this, too. "That really happens?" he gasped. "I always thought that was just on t.v shows, and whatever."

She nodded, and made a humming noise. "To be truthful, it was awful," she said, moving her lips to the side of her face. "I didn't... get it easy. Did that make sense?"

"Yes," he said, frowning. Then, he remembered her first language wasn't English, and slapped his forehead.

"What are you doing?" she asked.

"Was just stupid, it doesn't matter."

"I see."

"Well," he said, continuing the conversation. She didn't seem to be used to talking, but then, perhaps it was the difficulty of speaking another language. "Other than dance, which I think is awesome, by the way, what do you do?"

"Hmm," she hummed. "I read."

"In general?" he joked, and shook his head when she didn't get it. "What kind of stuff do you read."

"People like Pushkin, Tolstoy and Dostoyevsky," she explained. _God, _Dil thought, _either Russians __are smarter than us, or she's one cultured girl. _"Sorry, but our writers are better than yours."

"I can't comment on that, I'm not much of a fiction reader," Dil told her. Dil would read anything on space, but he wouldn't waste his time reading about something which was made up. It was an irony that he would possibly understand when he grows up. _I don't want to be talking about Russian literature, _Dil thought. But, once again, he wasn't sure what he wanted to talk about, but he wanted to talk about something.

She nodded. "Where are you from, in Russia?" Dil asked.

"I grew up in Moscow," she explained. "I miss it, sometimes, but it is... very crowded."

And, they talked, and talked, and talked, and talked. All day. And, what an odd pair they were.

**[A]**

Angelica was a spoilt girl. She knew it, her parents knew it, her friends knew it, even her teachers knew it. She didn't want for anything, and never was forced to. Her simplest whim was fulfilled by her businesswomen of a mum, who insisted on making sure her family was far more well off than anyone else's. She was quite popular at school, but not as much as she would like to be: if she had her way, she would be the absolute top of the social chain, and people would bow down as she walked by.

The thing about having whatever you want, the second you want it, is that when you eventually find something you can't have, you obsess about it. She had this problem before, a lot. Sometimes with items, sometimes with friends, and sometimes with... boys. Not always romantically, there was the stunt with Harold. Granted, she hadn't be interested in Harold in any way other than a friend, but still, the point is made.

Angelica had just returned from school, and was combing, and straightening, her hair after school; preparing for the after-school social life is difficult! "What is wrong with you, Angelica?" she muttered to herself. "You dumb broad."

Don't they say something about talking to yourself being the first sign of insanity? Apparently, Angelica didn't get the memo.

"I mean," she continued. "He's not even good looking."

And there's the problem, Angelica was attracted to something she could not, nor ever, have. She wasn't in love, or anything, she just liked talking to him. She liked that he would think about what she said, and listen when she talked. Most guys just listen, and nod occasionally to pretend they're remotely interested. It was like you could either be a nice guy, or a hot guy, and only a small amount of people are both.

"I mean," she lamented, spraying her hair with hairspray, "it's not like he's hideous."

"What are you saying, Angelica?" she almost growled, looking at herself in the eye. "It's, it's.. it's Chuckie Finster! Just that is enough to go yuck!"

"He's changed though," she found herself replying, as she tugged on a knot in her hair. "He's got taller, his freckles are fainter, he's far less nasally."

"So?"

Angelica shook her head. "What am I doing?" she asked. "I'm talking to myself in a fucking mirror! Am I finally going insane?"

_Maybe, _she thought. _I mean, look at what you're considering. _

This had been Angelica's thought process since her involvement with Charles 'Chuckie' Finster had started, in what had been a fairly simple, yet, at the time, incredibly irritating endeavour. Chuckie, before officially moving up to the junior year, had been in some junior classes. It was this, and the evidence that he was coping, that allowed him to move up completely. He had been in one of the maths classes, as a trial run.

Now, Angelica wasn't a moron; she was conceited. Therefore, she cared more about her looks and popularity than her studies. She wasn't anything special, she was no Nobel laureate, but she was in the higher group for some subjects, including maths. Granted, she was the bottom of that class, and was only there because her mother had, in a nutshell, threatened to castrate the principle unless he complied. The principle was bright enough to see that she would follow through on her threat.

Anyway, what happened was fairly straight forward. Before Chuckie had been moved up a year, before the crap with the kids from other schools, and other Physics nonsense that Angelica did not understand,and did not want to, he had been moved up in other classes. That is, the wheels were already in motion:

_Angelica sat, lying on her arm, in math class. The equations, symbols and letters on the board might as well have been another language, and she had absolutely no interest in learning it. Mr. Lee, their teacher, was a pudgy man with a red nose, and a pink tie. He was usually good natured, and had tried to encourage Angelica to study, but he was met with sarcasm and often passive aggressive moves. _

_Chuckie had drifted in with the others, obviously trying to blend in, but it wasn't working. Angelica found herself grimacing. "Finster," she growled._

_Chuckie then drifted over to the teacher, discretely asking where he should sit, hoping that Mr. Lee wouldn't make a big deal of it. Chuckie looked so relieved when he didn't, and Angelica suspected that Mr. Lee was like Chuckie when he was a kid. _

_Well, there was a new kid, and Angelica knew the drill when that happened. "What's going on, Finster?" she called out. "The nursery's that way, or did you lose your pacifier?" _

_The class chortled away and Chuckie's face went bright red. Angelica, of course, was smirking, leaning back in her chair, and basking in her glory. How very childish of her. "That's enough, Angelica," Mr. Lee said, and continued looking for a seat._

_It was at that moment, almost as if in slow motion, Angelica noticed the seat beside her was unoccupied. The breath caught in her throat, and she looked around for another empty seat, to save her. "No," she whispered. "No. No. No. No." _

_Slowly, she turned her head back to the front, and noticed that Mr. Lee was looking right at the chair beside her. He sighed, loudly, and looked to Chuckie. "It looks like that's the only seat free," he said. "I'm sorry about that, ..." He had forgotten Chuckie's name, as teachers tend to. _

_"Chuckie Finster," Chuckie said, who was now playing with his hands, obviously both nervous and nauseated at the prospect of sitting next to Angelica._

_"No!" Angelica called, almost getting to her feet. "I'm not sitting next to... that!" she growled, gesturing at Chuckie._

"_Miss Finster," Mr. Lee growled, glaring at the rest of the class, who tried to keep their laughs to a dull roar, "you will hold you tongue! Do you hear me?"_

_Chuckie, after receiving a nod from the teacher, and the teacher whispering something in his ear as he passed, moved over to the table and sat down._

_Angelica was horrified. _

And, in a nutshell, that was how it started. Not in something grand, at all. Just something as simple, and stereotypical, as a seating arrangement. Of course, after this initial horror and sickness, Angelica started exploiting Chuckie, getting him to do his homework.

But, more of that, for another time. Angelica could hardly think at this point, and was tugging at a particularly annoying part of her hair.

"Argh!" she groaned, pulling at it. "Why is it, that nothing every goes right for me, before something goes shit, first!"

[X]

The next week was fairly uneventful, as most weeks are. Given that it was the last week of school before the Christmas holidays, the kids lost all interest in school (if they hadn't already), and it got colder. Phil was distraught about that, and kept moaning, at any chance he could, that there was no snow. When people have nothing to say, they go on and on about the weather. Well, now, the lack of weather was the talking point: it had not snowed at all. What a bleak Christmas it was shaping up to be.

Dil and Valentina got on well; They were both odd in their own way. Valentina's parents were proud Russians, and wanted their daughter to know everything about their culture, their lives, and their history, and they also wanted her to be exceptional, and had invested a lot of money into that. Perhaps not as much time, but certainly enough time.

What was more interesting than that, was the story between Lil and Tommy. There was no anger now, that had disappeared. All that was left was embarrassed, and regret, from both of them. Their fiasco at Lil's house was never brought up, and both of them quietly thanked God that it wasn't; that would be way to awkward!

Of the two of them, Lil was the most conflicted. You might ask: why wouldn't she just go back to her friends?", but the science of fitting in isn't as simple as it sounds. Lil liked being popular; she always had! When Angelica had started being friendly to her, she was a little surprised, but then she was delighted. All of Angelica's friends were older than her, and she liked feeling grown up, like her own person. This was the consequence of being a twin, and it was something that had caused many a family row.

Along with that, being a teenage girl, she liked feeling... liked. She had, had many different phases on her own self esteem as she grew: at first, she was worried that she looked too much like a boy, and worse, too much like her brother! Every time someone commented on how much she and her brother looked alike, she would have to bite her lip to stop her snapping at them (and she often failed). Then, she'd occasionally realise she was quite pretty (when boys started noticing her), but that would disappear as soon as someone reminded her she was a twin.

Of course, once Angelica realised Lil was getting popular, she drafted her into her own private force. And, when people started telling her how good looking she was, and that this boy found her "hot", she was delighted. Very superficial, and she knew it, but who really cares about that when you're the talk of the school? As for Brad, the school "hottie", that was very unexpected, and when he invited her to his car for a drive, she was amazed. Perhaps she was less attracted to him, than to the idea of him. Who would have thought the football team star would be interested in the girl who used to eat worms? Well, Lil certainly didn't; she used to scoff at T.V programs where that happened.

At first, she kind of forgot about her old friends. Not completely, obviously, but she had other things on her mind. She regretted that strongly, now. Gone are the days when she only had to worry about what was on T.V? What brand of popcorn she would eat with her friends? And, as for Tommy, maybe she had, had a little thing for him all along. But, Kimi and him were always a dead heat together; they were just so similar. Though, now, Lil couldn't help but notice that her brother and Kimi were getting closer and closer, and Tommy had not shown any more interest in Kimi.

Lil hadn't admitted it, but she used to be very jealous of Kimi. Not because of Tommy, her feelings for him were fairly recent, and probably spuured on by the fact he was off limits; it was the whole Romeo-Juliet malarkey again. She just hoped that they didn't end up dying in a crypt! No, it was not because of Tommy, it was because Kimi was what Lil wanted to be (or, at least, wanted): she was funny, beautiful, cool and a hit with whoever she wanted to be with. Most importantly, she was her own person. The fact that Lil was a twin had influenced her psychology more than anything else. Thankfully, this jealously did not become malicious, bar the occasional argument between them; but, what friends didn't have those?

Now, Lil, in a way that was getting better, was reaching a nice place between them. Unfortunately, compromises never work forever.

[**K**]

Chuckie's chess tournament had finally come round,and Kimi, Phil, Tommy and obviously Chuckie were driving to the city where Chuckie's tournament was. Chuckie's dad really wanted to come, but work was so stressful for him at the moment, so Chuckie promised that he would do his best, and Chaz gave promised to pay him back for not being able to go.

In any case, Chuckie was stressing out, drumming his fingers on the steering wheel as he concentrated on the road.

"Will you stop doing that?" he moaned. Kimi and Phil were playing footsie in the back of the car, trying to see how could put their foot through the space between the two front seats, and giggling like little kids. Kimi and Phil were sitting in the back, with Tommy in the front.

"Will you stop tapping on the wheel, then?" Kimi retorted. "It's Phil's fault, anyway! He won't let me put my foot their."

"I don't see why you should," Phil grinned. "I have just as much right as you! Chivalry is dead, and all that crap."

"That's true, that's true," Kimi replied. "You're hardly a gentlemen, anyway, the way you smell!"

"I do not!" Phil said, feigning indignation. After a brief pause, he raised his arm to check. "I don't, do I?"

"Well, we weren't going to say," Tommy commented.

"Don't mess about here, Tommy," Phil said, looking worried.

Kimi laughed. "You smell great," she laughed, and then turned away. Little did Phil know, she was blushing into the window, embarrassed.

"All right, calm down," Phil laughed, and Kimi sighed: at least he hadn't made a big deal about it. Kimi was at that point, now, that whenever she spoke to Phil, she was careful about what she said. Any complements at all, which might seem harmless to anyone, had to be thought through, in case they revealed her feelings. Phil hadn't show any inclination that he like her, in that way, since he kissed her, what felt like a year ago. However, since Edward left, and her feelings for Phil started to return, he had not shown anything. Embarrassment was holding her back, and well as guilt for being nasty to him.

"You are going to make me crash," Chuckie sighed. "Though, it wouldn't be a bad thing, at this point."

"Stop being a baby, Chuck," Phil told him, pushing the back of his head.

"Phil!" he snapped.

"Well, grow up," he joked. "It's not like you're gonna be shot if you fail." He grinned. "We will all just laugh at you a bit."

"Phil," Kimi crowed, elbowing him in the side.

"What?"

"Thanks, Phil," Chuckie shook his head. He knew Phil was joking, but still; it was a fear he had anyway. "I don't know why you guys are coming, you aren't allowed to watch."

"Damn," Phil cursed, sarcastically, and Kimi grinning.

"To give our buddy moral support," Tommy told him. "We all know you've got this."

"Don't forget the shopping," Kimi said. There was a punk store in the city which Kimi absolutely loved, and she was going to try and buy as much as possible.

"We wouldn't," Phil sighed. "It will be me carrying your crap again, right?"

"That's right," Kimi said, in a sing-song kind of voice, "and I heard that, it is not crap! You should be honoured that I am allowing you to carry my new clothes."

Phil laughed. "Ok, firstly, they aren't your new clothes, you haven't bought them yet," he grinned. "And, 'b'" he said, holding up his second finger, causing Kimi to giggle. "You are not the queen."

"I should be," Kimi remarked.

"That may be," Phil retorted, "and on that day," he continued, as if the royal advisor, with a posh accent to boot, "I will be more than delighted to carry your clothing, but, until that day comes, and I am reduced to that, I will moan and groan as I please!"

[**C]**

The tournament was held in a large hall, with loads of tables set up. It was a series of short (ten minutes per game) matches, and players totted up their scores, and the top four would compete for the championship. Those games would be long. They were in the foyer, and could see the room though glass doors; Kimi yawned at the sight of it, and all of the other competitors gathering around.

"C'mon Kimi, this is Chuckie's big day!" Tommy joked. "This is a big deal."

"I know, I know," Kimi said, shaking her head quickly, as if to wake herself, and rubbing her eyes.

Chuckie was petrified; he hated competition, and he didn't want to look foolish; he had only got involved in this because he loved being good at something. He'd probably slap himself for being so stupid, later, but at this point, he'd be happy if a meteor came down and crushed him, putting him out of his misery. They were all waiting in a line to check in, and the wait was getting the better of him.

To pass time, Chuckie counted up how many heads there were: 56. Though, a lot of people were with family members, and possibly friends, so the amount of people would be less. The kind of people who go to chess tournaments aren't what most people would imagine: it's not all glasses and slouched nerds, Chuckie found himself thinking, before realising that he was one of those people. A lot of people had gaming tops on, other with plain 't' shirts, there was a Gothic guy at the back. But, the weirdest of all was the person behind Chuckie: very bright blonde hair, sunglasses, an Hawaiian top, and crutches (he had a cast on his leg); even Chuckie knew that you don't wear Hawaiian shirts in the winter!

As the line got shorter, Chuckie could feel the lump growing in his throat. He could see people reading through opening books, and he had left his at home! He didn't even hear the women at the reception say: "name", and his attention was found by a sharp elbow in the ribs by his sister.

"Earth to Chuckie," Tommy said. "You're up."

"What?" he said, dazed.

"Name," the women at the counter asked, impatiently. She obviously thought this whole ordeal was a waste of time.

"Chuckie Finster," Chuckie said.

Her eyes, behind thick, purple glasses, scanned down the list. "I don't see it," she said, looking up at him, and Chuckie wore he saw a little grin on her face.

"What?" Chuckie asked. "What do you mean?"

The women grinned again. "No Charles on this list."

"Well, look again," Kimi chimed in. "We haven't come all this way to be stopped at the door."

Chuckie was starting to sweat now. _Typical, _he thought. _Everything goes wrong for me, everything. _"No..." the women started, before getting interrupted.

"Is that a nickname, Chuckie Finster?" a voice asked, from behind him. Chuckie, and the rest of the crew turned, to see the kid with the Hawaiian shirt, and sunglasses, looking smug. "She could be being awkward on purpose."

"Oh, of course," Chuckie muttered; he was so nervous he actually thought his name was Chuckie! "Charles Finster."

"Ah, there it is," the women said, looking a bit annoyed.

"You'd think she'd see the 'Finster' and put two and two together," Kimi muttered.

"The bitch," Phil muttered back, and the two of them has to cover their mouths from laughter.

"Excuse me?" the women said, glaring.

"Nothing!" Phil and Kimi exclaimed together, and then laughed again.

Tommy shook his head. "Anyway, good luck Chuckie!" he said.

"Yeah, buddy, I'm sure you'll do great," Phil said, slapping him on the shoulder.

"Shame we can't come in," Tommy said, trying to keep a straight face.

"Of course it is," Chuckie mumbled. "But, yeah, bye, thanks," he muttered, his nerves getting the better of him. _It's just a stupid game, _he thought. _It doesn't matter. It doesn't matter at all!_

"Don't be nervous, Chuckie," Kimi said, as they drifted away. "See you later! And you can bet you're carrying my stuff for me. Oh!" she said, bumping into the guy with sunglasses as she left. "Sorry about that."

"It's all right," the boy said.

"And thanks for earlier," she said, and Chuckie saw her tilting her head, before waving off whatever concern she had.

"Don't mention it," the boy called, as the three of them left.

Chuckie saw the boy watching Kimi as she left. Well, he didn't see the boy's eyes, as he was wearing glasses. "Wow," the kid said. "That chick is hot as hell. Is she yours?"

"Mine?" Chuckie said, feeling his ears go red. He hated it when people spoke about his sister in such a way.

"You with her?"

"No," Chuckie said. "She's my sister."

"So?" the guy laughed.

Chuckie turned, shocked, before he was called by the women. "You're holding up the line, Charles," she said, mocking him. "Go through to the main hall. I do not have all day."

"Yes, Chuckie Finster," the boy said, as Chuckie went through the door. "See you later."

[**P]**

Tommy had basically run off, making some excuse on needing to buy film for his camera (he had an old one), and left Phil at the whim of Kimi Finster. "Kimi," he sighed, after looking through the eighteenth shirt in one store. "I beg you, please, please let me go."

Kimi shook her head, and showed him another jacket: it was black, but with purple stripes and a purple lightning bolt down the back. "What about this?" she asked.

"They all look the same to me," he answered, truthfully.

"Phil!" she said, playfully smacking his face. "You can't say things like that about my clothes, I might get a complex!"

See, Phil liked being with Kimi. He liked it a whole lot. In fact, she was the person he loved being with the most. But, there's only so much a lad can handle before he snaps, and, at the moment, he could honestly say that he would rather be anywhere else. Well, except that chess tournament. He was holding a pile of clothes, with the hangers strapped in the back. Kimi couldn't afford all of them, but, after she had picked all the ones she liked, she would go through a second screening...

"Since when did you become such a girl?" Phil moaned.

"I'll leave that one where it is," she said, their eyes meeting for a second, before hers returned to the jacket.

Kimi, becoming a girl... It's funny, but Phil couldn't remember exactly when Kimi stopped being just one of his friends, and became something... well, became something. What that something was, he hadn't the foggiest (and didn't really care). She'd just suddenly stopped being that adventurous, spunky girl with a thrill of adventure, and started becoming...

In any case, when he was a lot younger, and the concept of girls made him sick, Kimi had been different. She wasn't like all the others. She liked looking cool, but she wasn't obsessed. She was rarely boy crazy, did her own thing, and was much more like "one of the guys" than any of the other girls he knew. Her gender didn't interest him; he could have a laugh and joke, kick a ball around, etc.

Now, on the other hand, even that brief moment when their eyes met was enough to keep him going. It is true, eyes were the gateway to the soul. _Wait a second, _Phil found himself thinking, _when did you become such a pansy?_

_When it began to suit me, _his subconscious replied.

"Hey!"

Phil, shaken from his thoughts, was brought back to the purple, red and black streaks on the clothes of the shop. Kimi, waggling a finger, was where his eyes fell. "Come on now, servant," she said. "You've got to be paying attention now.

Phil grimaced. "Do you mean...?"

"That's right," she grinned. "It is time for sorting."

"Lord, save me."

After what, to Phil, felt like an hour, they left the shop. Kimi didn't buy as much as she had planned to, after realising that she didn't have the money on her card, and Chaz refused to give her any more; he had "bumped up her allowance twice this month". Kimi got into a bit of a huff, but eventually decided, and she was looking quite pleased, as they left the shop.

"Finally," Phil moaned, carrying her bags with them.

"Don't moan, Philip," Kimi joked. "You know you love it really."

"Maybe," Phil found himself saying, with a voice that admitted there was at least one aspect he had enjoyed.

Kimi turned, raising her eyebrow, and Phil realised he had put his foot in his mouth. "Kidding," he said, hoping that would be the end of it.

"Oh, ok," Kimi said, turning her head around to look at the other shops around them.

_Nice save, _his subconscious remarked.

The pair was in an mall, and one far larger than the one in their hometown. Phil liked lots of shops, they always reminded him of movies he liked when he was younger, but people always seemed to be in a rush, and bumping him out of the way. He wasn't a very big lad, so he didn't intimidate people at all, and people, including old ladies and younger children, seemed to take advantage of that fact.

At least he was with Kimi.

**[C]**

The final four had been selected, and after some of the most difficult games of Chuckie's life, he was among them. He felt much better now, and there was even a grin on his otherwise sickly face. They were now waiting in another room, allowing the rest of the kids to get their rewards for participating. It was an odd way for a tournament to work, but there you go.

Chuckie has played many matches, and won nearly all of them, with exception to a few. His most interesting game was with the boy with the sunglasses: and Chuckie still didn't know his name:

"_Hello again, Chuckie Finster," the boy said, coming over to the table Chuckie was at, and sitting down. Chuckie grimaced, remembering the earlier comment the lad had made about his sister, and vowed, through his vexation, to crush him._

_Chuckie merely grunted in response. "Did you win you last one?" the boy asked._

"_You can see the score board," Chuckie muttered. This was true: at the front of the room was a large board, set out in a square, with each player's win/loss score, and each game result. To Chuckie, this meant the kid was trying to wind him up. _

"_Oh, of course," he said, pretending to be shocked, and almost falling off his seat._

"_Can we play, please," Chuckie said, awkwardly. _

_The boy nodded, using his finger to keep his sunglasses from falling off; Chuckie found this particularly unusual, but he didn't want to let it get to him: he had a game to win! "Yes, let's get on with this," he said._

_He was playing white, and pushed one of his pawns forward. Chuckie stared at the board, concentrating, and moved another piece. "That's a stupid move," the boy said, pushing his piece forward, and leaning back. He clearly didn't care it was a timed match. _

_Chuckie ignored him, quickly moving again._

"_That was stupid, also," the boy laughed. Chuckie looked up, as he moved a piece, and caught a look at the kids face. Although he was mocking Chuckie, he was definitely concentrating; he must be trying to throw him off, which was definitely cheating._

_"Please don't talk," Chuckie said._

_"Or what?"_

"_I'll have to call the people over, you'll be disqualified."_

"_Very frightening," the boy chuckled, moving another piece and taking one of Chuckie's knights. "I might just stop now."_

_Funnily enough, he did. But, he made a lasting effect on Chuckie, and even after this small exchange, Chuckie was angry. It must have been a combination of this and before, and Chuckie did not like being mocked. _

"_Oh, a good mood," the boy said, after a minute of the lightning fast game. "Looks like you've won."_

_Chuckie looked at the board: though he didn't realise it, he must have planned subconsciously planned ahead, and this boy had seen it. Chuckie leaned back, and, in a very out of character mood, grinned. "Don't look so smug," the kid laughed, and nodded his head at the board. "It looks like we are equal now, what a coincidence."_

_Chuckie stopped dead in his thought: had this jackass let him win, or was he kidding? _

There were four seats against the wall, and Chuckie was sat on the one on the end. The kid with the sunglasses on sat down next to him, and Chuckie hadn't forgiven him for his brazen comment about his sister, earlier, and refused to say anything. "I thought we'd both get to the finals," Jack commented.

Chuckie didn't respond with words, he just grunted slightly, to agree.

"Hey, listen, no hard feelings about earlier," he said, in his strange accent. "You know I was only messing around, right?"

"Yeah, sure," Chuckie mumbled, so quietly that he could barely hear himself talk. For some reason, he found this kid vaguely intimidating. Anyone who would so brazenly comment on his sister was bound to be trouble. Other than that, he just got a bad vibe about him, like there was something he wasn't being told.

"So, no worries?" the boy asked. Chuckie looked, out of the corner of his eye, to see the kid looking in his direction, and eyebrow raised. Due to his sunglasses, you couldn't see his eyes, but Chuckie got the distinct impression that his eyes were smiling, taunting him.

"None."

"Well, that's good, we wouldn't want to be playing a game with hard feelings. Our last match was pretty fun, we both have exactly the same score, after you beat. Quite a coincidence, right?" he repeated, from earlier.

Chuckie didn't like this, he was definitely being mocked. "Do you have a problem with me?" Chuckie asked, his brotherly instincts had caused him to blurt out this unexpected sentence, and he immediately returned to staring at his shoes after saying it.

Jack shook his head, a grin on his face. "Not at all," he said. "Don't be daft. I was just commenting on it's odd that we both won and lost exactly the same amount of games."

"Are you saying you let me win?" Chuckie asked.

"No, I'm not, and I didn't," he replied. "You need to calm down; no one performs well under stress."

"Is that your goal?" Chuckie demanded. "Are you goading me so you can win this time?"

"Perhaps," the boy replied.

Chuckie shook his head, and continued to stare at his shoes, and gritted his teeth. He would not give this kid the satisfaction of losing his temper, not now!

"That's right, Chuckie, you need to keep your temper at this point, I need to ask you something," Jack said, his voice dropping at this point.

Chuckie's ears pricked up at this, despite his trying to stop them. He wanted to say: "I don't care", but he hated conflict too much, and was in too deep at this point, anyway. He should probably report this boy for cheating, anyway.

"Does your sister have a boyfriend?" he asked.

"None of your business," Chuckie said, feeling his face become flushed with anger.

"I'm just curious, it's not like I have any shot, I don't even know where you guys..."

"No, she doesn't," Chuckie interrupted.

"Really?" he said, sounding interested. "Not even with the guy with the hair."

"Both of the guys have hair," Chuckie retorted.

"Yes," the boy tutted. "But, the boy with the long, messy hair, and the bandanna on."

"No," Chuckie told him, trying desperately to keep his cool. _This guy is just trying to rile you up, don't rise to it, don't rise to it, _Chuckie kept repeating to himself.

"Surprising actually, you'd think a cute Japanese girl like that would be fighting the guys off," the boy commented.

"Right, that's it," Chuckie growled, finding himself standing up, before catching himself. "How do you even know she's Japanese."

He turned, and saw the guy break into a grin, as if he knew that was coming. "No Chinese person would wear their hair as cool as that," he said, his voice suddenly sounding distinctly different, and his grin at its maximum.

"Excuse me," Chuckie said, caught dead in his tracks.

"You heard me, Chuckie Finster," Jack said, and Chuckie saw a sarcastic grin on his face.

It couldn't be... "Edward, is that you?" he asked, slowly.

In response, as if in a film, and certainly deliberately dramatic, Jack took his sunglasses off, revealing the most blue eyes that Chuckie had ever seen. "Glad to see you remember me," he said. "Edward Johnson, pleased to remake your acquaintance."


	29. Chapter 7: Edward's Update

Chapter 7: Edward's Update

[E]

"What, what?" Chuckie said, flustered. "Edward? Edward Johnson? What are you doing here?"

Edward grinned. "I think, the better question is, why am I here, dressed like this?" he said, looking at his shirt, and general attire. "You know, I've got a pretty adjustable face; I've always found it easy to disguise, if need be."

Chuckie was just confused, and he could feel his mouth agape. Edward looked at him, frowned, and continued. "Anyway, I always wondered what I looked like with blonde hair," he mused, and Chuckie still felt like he was being mocked, in between the thoughts of intense confusion. "Awful, apparently."

Edward looked to Chuckie, again. "OK, then," he said. "I was rambling, I guess I am in quite a good mood. And, if you were me, you would realise how rare that is. What did you ask, again? I forgot. Again, quite unusual for me."

Chuckie frowned, wondering, now, what was wrong with Edward. He had always been suave, calm, and irritatingly not human. But, now, he was practically dancing around, and it was making Chuckie irate. "What are you doing here?" Chuckie repeated.

"What, no 'how do you do'?" Edward joked, his eyes heading to the window. "Fine, I guess I was a bit of an arse to you, earlier, and you deserve an explanation." Edward glanced over to the other two kids, who were staring at him, bemused. "I am having a conversation, you know?" he said, looking a bit irritated. "Can you at least pretend to be uninterested, and get back to you silly thoughts about a kid's game."

This made Chuckie grind his teeth. Not only was Edward here, the kid who had made him intensely jealous, but he was mocking what Chuckie was here to do. "I have a limited amount of time, anyway," Edward said, after the pause. "So, I must get on with it!"

"Well," he continued. "As to why I am here, it is fairly simple; No master plan, nothing evil. I just wanted an update, I guess."

"An update?" Chuckie asked, more confused.

"Well, I only knew you guys for a short period of time, and, no offence, I was uninterested with most of you, with a couple of exceptions," he explained. "As you know, I was, and am, very interested in your sister."

Chuckie felt his face flush. "Don't worry, sport, I'm not going to do anything, and, if you'll listen, or use your brain, you'll figure out that I have done everything I have, to avoid being caught."

Chuckie frowned, and then it clicked: the disguise. "Yes," Edward said, as if reading his mind. "I wear this disguise, in case Kimi was here. I couldn't be certain, of course, and it was a nice surprise, but I definitely don't want to be taking chances."

"What do you mean, taking chances?" Chuckie interjected.

"Full of questions, today, aren't you?" Edward chuckled. "I'm getting to it, for goodness sake."

"Not fast enough," Chuckie grumbled, quite unlike himself.

"You are right, of course," Edward said. "Anyway, as I keep saying, I did not want Kimi and Phil to see me, I wanted to watch, quietly, and have a chat with you, about what's been going on. Though I was only part of this story for a short amount of time, I feel like I am now part of it. And, there were things that I saw, in the way I do, that I want to see continue."

Chuckie was still frowning, and, a question hit him. "Why Phil?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean," Chuckie grumbled, further, knowing that Edward knew exactly what he was talking about. "I get why Kimi, as much as it irritates me, but what about Phil. What did he do?"

Edward grinned. "Slow down, I am getting there," then, he slapped his forehead. "Oh, if that's the case, things are going slower than I thought." He sank back into the chair. "I hate being wrong, I thought everyone would have figured it out, and put pressure on it."

"I am getting tired with this, what are you talking about?"

Edward waved the question again. "So, nothing at all? No changes for Kimi, or Phil?" he said. Chuckie face was blank, and, when Edward saw it, he shook his head. "Look who I'm talking to, you wouldn't have noticed anyway. No offence meant."

Chuckie, at this point, had resigned himself to offence, so that did not help. "Nothing happened with either of them, why do you ask?"

Edward looked at him. "See what I mean," he grinned.

Chuckie frowned again. "Are you drunk, or something?" he asked. "You're nothing like I remember."

"Not drunk, no," he said, slipping back into the chair, besides Chuckie. "No, no, no. Something quite a bit rarer than my being drunk. Anyway," he said, catching a thought. "I will explain. Kimi, of course, I like, and, I discovered, my feelings haven't changed."

Chuckie's breath caught in his throat: does this mean that Edward would be coming back? Would he be 'getting back' with Kimi? That would make him an integral part of Chuckie's life! But, if that was the case, then why the disguise? "Ah," Edward said, looking over to Chuckie. "Yes, let me explain the disguise."

"I think I had quite the impact on your little lives, if you don't mind my saying," Edward explained to Chuckie. "And, unfortunately, I think Kimi is still, though only slightly, 'into me'."

"How do you know that?"

Edward just laughed, in response. "I guess I just do; I make assumptions," he replied. "Usually, they are correct." A pause. "What do I mean, usually? They are always right!"

_Arrogant... _and, Chuckie thought a word so heinous, that I will not write it hear, for fear of judgement. "Yes, Chuckie," Edward said. "I am that arrogant. Anyway, any plans for Christmas?"

Chuckie frowned. "Yes, we do," he said, leaving his thoughts where they were.

"Oh, that's good," Edward said, looking out of the window, beside them. "We, being?"

"We're going to Aspen," Chuckie told him, confused. "Why do you asked?"

"Well, I want to know where Kimi is going, and, therefore, her distance from the rest of your quaint little group," Edward explained. "I would have thought that was obvious."

The hairs... Well, the hair (Chuckie was not as hairy as he would like to be), rose up. "I'll have you know, our whole group is going! Not just Kimi and me," Chuckie growled. "So, there isn't any distance. And, I don't like you studying my sister!"

"Wait, you're all going, to Aspen?" Edward said; his head snapping back, from the window. "All of you?" Chuckie nodded. "That's perfect. There's snow in Aspen, right?"

"You're kidding, right?"

"Yes," replied Edward, shortly. "Well, how nice it must be, to be rich." There was venom, with this, and Chuckie noticed it, but chose not to comment. "Still, it must be beneficial." Edward looked over. "Have you got a girl in mind, then, ol' Chuck? Got any chicks on the horizon, or is that not your thing, 'ey?" Edward joked, elbowing him in the ribs.

Chuckie flushed. "No, I haven't."

Edward chuckled, and stood up. "Come on now, Chuck," he shook his head. "You know me; you can't seriously think you will fool me with such a half-arsed lie." He walked over to the window, and nodded at the other chess players, who were looking at him. "What did I just say? Haven't you got a game to think about? I'm having a conversation here, nerds."

Chuckie looked up, trying to flick away the thoughts of his "chick on the horizon". "Anyway, I wasn't kidding," Chuckie continued, with a growing curiosity. "What is important about Aspen?" There was something Edward was leaving out; his surprise seemed far more than merely shocked at location. It was almost as if it contradicted a long thought he had been having, or, did quite the opposite. There was a growing significance, here.

Edward turned his head and, once again, stared at Chuckie. Chuckie stared back, not backing down to the scanning navy pearls with bore into his mind. "Very good," Edward nodded. "Well, I always knew you were a smart cookie. Not too long ago, you were taking my test." Edward jumped back into the seat beside him. "Yes, your trip to the snowy peaks is far more interesting than merely a little Christmas get-away. But, my old Chuck, I cannot spoil to much for you now, lest you interfere in a negative way."

"Imagine," Edward said, "that a story had a reader input, that the characters could communicate with the reader, independent of he who crafted their lives. Imagine if the reader had been pointed towards the ending by that word-smith. Imagine how much said reader could ruin a tale, if he warned the characters; they would flee for their dear life, not wanting to be puppets to some man's whim."

Chuckie frowned. "What does that mean?" he asked. "You're not God, Edward. You aren't writing our story."

Edward looked at him. "That's true," he said, raising a finger and pointing at the spot between Chuckie's eyes. "But, I do indeed have insight into the minds of the people I communicate with, and, due to my care for your sister, I have seen slightly further into her life, than she."

"So far, indeed," he now dropped to a whisper, "that it would ruin everything for my to say only a single word. So I shan't." Edward stood up, picking his glasses up, as he went.

"Well," he announced, fiddling around in his pocket and, when he heard the jingle of keys, he grinned. "Well, I best be off, now."

Chuckie gasped, and his bottom jaw, comically, almost his the floor. "You what?" he called. "How dare you leave things like that?! You sound like you know we all have an illness, or something! I need to know what you meant. And," adding another point, which only Chuckie could care about, "what about our chess game?"

Edward chuckled, at this, and continued to the door. "OK then, Chuckie. I will give you one, and only one, hint about what may be, as it may serve a purpose," he stopped, turned his head slightly, and put his glasses on. "Since I have entered your lives I have played the part of the sculptor of one of you: one Phillip Deville. I have brought out of him his brilliance, something I alone saw in him. But, I did not do that without motive, or without link to the rest of you."

"I care very much abot your sister, so much so that it is an obsession. But, given my insight, I have seen that I am not what she needs in her life, nor, what's worse, what she could have forever; I am a chocolate going out of production, made only important due to its impending disappearance." Edward had quite the way with words. "And, even during her infatuation with me, I saw, behind her eyes, something else."

He continued to the door, again. "Do not ask me another question, and here will be your clue: keep an eye on my statue," and he walked out of the door.

Chuckie thought on this for a moment, and, before frantically calling: "Edward!"

Edward popped his head back around the corner. "What is it, Chuck?"

"Our game. We need a rematch, you let me win!"

Edward grinned. "That I did, Chuck," he nodded. "But, we don't need a rematch, as I know this: I let you win, not only because I needed to speak to you in here, but because, as a proud boy, I couldn't help being beaten whilst trying."

And with that, his head disappeared, leaving Chuckie alone with his frantic, though now quite pleasant, thoughts.


End file.
